Derek Leman, a messianic rabbi from Atlanta, GA in this guest post for Jewish Studies for Christians deals with an issue of whether or not Jews and Gentiles are bound by the same commandments. While there are other well-argued opinions, I am happy to present his post to you for your careful consideration and engagement. (You are cordially invited to visit one of his blogs “Messianic Jewish Musings” of this talented and prolific author. To do so, please, click HERE).
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Whose commandments are they? That is, for whom were they laid down as stipulations? Does that still matter or did something change, such as God issuing a new covenant that made the original commandments a law for everyone? Or did a new people come to God who were then transformed in some way, made to have the same relationship to God as this first people, the Jewish people?
The logic of “one law” or of the divine obligation of all people of faith in Messiah to the same laws as those given to Israel is usually based on one of a handful of arguments. Aren’t non-Jews grafted into the Jewish tree through Messiah and if so, doesn’t this eliminate the Jewish-Gentile differentiation? If a commandment is holy, then isn’t it unholy not to follow it? Since the Torah is the only ordered list of God’s requirements, it has to be for everyone, because God nowhere gives a “law for the Gentiles,” right?
People often base their opinion about the commandments on their experience and not on the Bible. I am not against the importance of our personal experience with God. It’s just that experience can be misinterpreted. It seems to be far better if we interpret our experiences with reference to the great ideas that are in the Bible and find answers which bring together Bible and experience.
So, for example, a Christian may experience a deep awakening upon discovering the joys of Passover and Sabbath and the rhythm of the Torah calendar. Likewise, eating a restricted diet can feel like intensifying holiness. And the whole experience of becoming a Torah-observer may feel like getting very close to God. Then, when encountering Jewish beliefs about Torah — that Torah is a covenant between Israel and God, not between the nations and God — such a person might feel as if they are being denied membership in an exclusive club.
I would like to explain why, in simple terms, God’s way is not one law for everyone, and suggest a middle path for non-Jews who want to have a closer relationship with Israel’s Torah.
First, it would be helpful if people would go back to the giving of the Torah from Sinai in Exodus 19. Would Jewish people be asking too much if we say, “Please keep in mind the importance of this event as something special between us and God?” When you read Exodus 19, can you not see God is making a covenant with the Jewish people? Yes, there are clever work-arounds such as “Gentiles were there too in the form of the mixed multitude.” But those tortured arguments look like a way to deny the simple truth: Torah was given as a covenant to Israel. The commandments are the stipulations of the covenant.
Second, what is in the Torah? Do people who want to read it as “one law for everyone” actually take into account what is actually contained in it? Many things in Torah no longer apply to anyone today, Jewish or non-Jewish. Do you need laws about how to treat your slave? Have you seriously entertained the idea of taking a war-bride after giving her a month to mourn her father? Were you considering stoning your rebellious teenager? Reading the Torah calls for some maturity in reading, some willingness to learn history, to see the difference between the ideal in Torah and the time-bound social and civil legislation it contained for an ancient nation in a barbaric world.
Third, when people talk about how they are “Torah-observant” or say that they “keep the commandments,” they mean only a handful of them. What they are really talking about is the observances given to Israel which the church has not made part of its practice: Sabbath, dietary law, circumcision on the eighth day, tassels on one’s garment, and festivals. There is no Temple anymore, so the laws about offerings and giving the tithe to the priests cannot really apply. But these few commandments that differentiate Israel from the nations — which can be referred to as the sign commandments, since they are signs of Israel’s uniqueness — are a cause for controversy. It may help (or maybe not) to point out that the Sabbath is specifically said to be such a sign: “Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations” (Exod 31:13). When God said this, it is clear the “you” was Israel, and Israel’s generations are still very much alive today.
Fourth, it is possible — and I try to get people to see this — that what is holy and required for one person is not holy and required of all people. One person — a priest in Israel — may not be able to attend a burial or walk in a graveyard. If the whole world follows the “one law” principle, none of our dead will ever be buried. One person — someone under a Nazirite vow — must avoid wine and even grapes and raisins. If the all-commandments-apply-universally notion is followed, well, we will all miss out on some great Cabernet and the joy of raisins in our oatmeal. Likewise, it is possible that Sabbath is a holy sign of Jewishness (just like Exodus says) and that it is not holy for Gentiles. It may be that Israel’s diet was restricted and this marked them as a different people in the ancient world, but that there is no reason why pork is inherently unclean — just as Genesis 9:3 suggests.
Fifth, it is fairly easy to see — but clever and specious arguments are used to avoid seeing what is obvious — that the apostles believed Jews in Messiah should keep all the commandments but that the Gentiles did not need to “keep the law of Moses.” They did not mean by this that Gentiles in Messiah were free to steal and murder. “Law of Moses” means the covenant stipulations from Sinai as a total system. It is clear in reading Paul that he taught his Gentile adherents they were not bound by diets and days and the use of flint knives to remove a foreskin. To many people, this makes Paul seem problematic, anti-Torah. Did it occur to anyone he was being a good Jew and interpreting Torah according to its true sense?
Sixth, it is also fairly easy to see that the church went too far in distancing itself from Torah and the Jewish people. Christian theologians regularly write about this and recovering the Jewishness of Christianity is standard form today in many circles. Yes, plenty of Christians remain oblivious to what the theologians and historians within Christianity are saying about Jewish roots, but the church has definitely turned a corner. It is possible now to argue that Christians practice a form of Judaism and to point this out entirely from Christian thinkers and scholars.
Seventh, it is often overlooked that Christians keep most of what is in Torah, at least what I call the ideals of Torah. Love God and neighbor is the ideal center of Torah. It is expressed in ways we treat the powerless, honor one another, serve those in need, form community, and repair the world. Christians have always been very involved in love and service and good works.
Eighth and finally, there is a middle way for people who want to keep some of Israel’s Torah without those same people denying Israel’s unique relationship to God. It is not necessary to say, “I am grafted into Israel’s tree and so I am virtually an Israelite now.” It is not necessary to say, “All the commandments are holy for everyone and there are no distinctions.” It is possible instead to adopt the philosophy of one of the earliest writings of the Yeshua-movement, the Didache (pronounced deed-ah-KHAY). The Didache came out of the first century Messianic Jewish movement and a few decades after Paul died, the Didache argued that Gentiles could keep Torah. It is possible to see that in Paul’s time this could have been dangerous, it could have rendered Messiah null and void. But after many Gentiles came in, it was possible some of them would want to live close to Jewish communities and worship with them.
So in the Didache, Gentiles were encouraged to “keep as much Torah as they are able” and to live in fellowship with Jewish disciples. The audience of the Didache, then, were Messianic Gentiles — as we often call people today who are in Messianic congregations or, even if not members of a Messianic congregation, live a Messianic Jewish lifestyle and maintain friendships with Messianic Jews. And the Didache does not encourage these Gentiles to simply act as if they are Jewish. Some distinctions remain.
So, for example, in Messianic Judaism today, Gentiles have a welcome place. The best practices of Torah will include making distinctions without discrimination. It is possible to distinguish and not discriminate.
And it is not necessary that Gentiles who choose this middle way should claim that all Christians must do the same. Living as a “Messianic Gentile” (or just as a “Messianic”) does not make a person holier. It is one way and God has many ways for people. The most important commandments are not Sabbath and dietary law anyway. To over-exalt these is to practice a form of cheap self-righteousness.
Jewishness is not a privilege. It is a responsibility. Jewishness is not a status of higher blessing. It is a calling to be a distinguishable people and to pass on that identity to children and children’s children forever. Gentiles who love the Torah should not try to erase Jewish distinction, to render Jewishness inert, to say all Messiah-followers are essentially Jews.
It does matter whose commandments they are. And the ideals of Torah apply to everyone even if some of the specifics are about Israel’s peoplehood. One law for everyone fails to read Torah according to its own distinctions. Being grafted in is a way of explaining how Gentiles come into the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, one given long before Sinai and which included Gentiles from the beginning (Gen 12:1-3). God did not ever say, “I now take the commandments given to Israel and make them apply to all of Messiah’s people.” But Paul did show his Gentile adherents how they could derive from the Torah what was required of them. And like Abraham (Gen 26:5), it is possible to keep all of God’s statutes without having a specific law-code.
The Torah is not one law for everyone. But neither do we have to forbid people from keeping it. There is a middle way.
What do you think?
Daniel: Con el exclusivo proposito de clarificar lo dicho, y cerrar aun por el momento nuestra conversacion, aclaro: debi decir “si no crees en las obras por la fe,(intervencion/guia divina/impulso irrefrenable de hacer algo), entonces Jesus aro en el mar”; eso, por una parte y por otra, las sanidades u obras hechas por el Altisimo son total y absolutamente diferentes de las hechas por el contendor, por cuanto las de este solo permanecen un tiempo relativamente corto(un mes, un año,etc.), en cambio las realizadas por el Señor de Señores, Principe de Paz, Refugio contra el turbion, QUEDAN PARA SIEMPRE, y de esto hay testimonio oral, no escrito, pues creo que nadie se ha ocupado en registrarlo, excepto el recuerdo de quien fue bendito con ello.Por otra parte, y sin animo de polemica, creo que te olvidas de algo: la Ley fue escrita por el Dedo de D-s con el fin de civilizar a un pueblo semi salvaje, no por tanta falta de instruccion sino por causa de la esclavitud violenta a que se vieron sometidos por Egipto y otros. En el desierto, el “yo” imperaba, por tal razon la Ley, y cuando la aprendieron, por voluntad o temor, vinieron los profetas a recordarsela al pueblo ya asentado, pero propenso a la idolatria y por supuesto a la desobediencia, causal de tantos destierros y donde ademas, adquirieron nuevas malas costumbres, lamentablemente, lo que de alguna manera impidio y sigue haciendolo, el que sean un pueblo santo para el Altisimo, “luz de las naciones” como era(o es) la intencion primera. De alguna manera, todos caemos en lo mismo. Un paso adelante, dos pasos atras. Lamentable, pero, aferremosnos como mejor podamos de la hebra de la tunica del Salvador, asi quizas El quiera levantarnos. Shalom aleichem, haverim.
Scripture is indeed the best teacher for those who want to learn. Yet, there are those who uses Scripture for arguing but it is not fruitfull. Gospel of Jesus Christ, our Messiach Is all about relationshep with God and each other. We are totally dependent on God because if He does not reveal to us the right meaning we might fall into the trap of self arbitrary opinion…
I would like to and my commenting with the sentence from 2 Tim. 16 – 17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching , rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness , that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work .”
God bless,
Shalom Snjezana Virag
I would just like to end my comments by saying AMEN. Especially if you were referring to me. Shalom.
In Ex when Israel is first camped they respond to God by saying “we will do and we will hear.”
Shalom Bill,
You first hear God’s instruction and then you do it. That they would invert that order (to do their own will) just goes to show how stiff necked they really were (we all are). The TORAH testifies to this:
“Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Deuteronomy 9:6.7.
Words to live by. The OT shows how the obligations placed upon man by the Law leads to death, as depraved man (Jew and Gentile alike) can do neither right nor good under it because of the infirmity of his flesh. See Genesis 8:21; Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 11:7. It is for this very reason (the infirmity of our flesh) that God is not pleased with our service, it by definition compelled.. See Romans 7:14.24; 8:6-9. Compare this with what is said in 1 Corinthians 9:2: “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”. There is only one cheerful giver who joyfully fulfilled all the commandments of the LORD, and his name is Jesus Christ. He now lives in the believers heart and with him, God is well pleased. Shalom.
Deu 5:27 ‘Go near and hear all that the LORD our God says; then speak to us all that the LORD our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.’
The quote was hear first then do. The same word is used twice. Shama – Means to hear and do. Believers who believe that they do not have to follow G-d’s law or pick and choose what they will do……
They are the ones who are stiff necked and seeking their own way rather than G-d’s. They also block the Spirit, and do not hear what the Lord is trying to tell them. Because they so want to do their own thing. Yeshua said the Torah and Prophets would not pass away until heaven and earth are gone. I believe they are still here. Shalom
He has told us what He wants as regards our neighbour: Micah 6:8, Isaiah 58:6-8. We are to be instruments of His mercy in the world. He cares for us completely, soul AND body, and so we care for the soul AND body of our brothers and sisters. As regards Himself, He has told us to hear Him, keep His words and constantly meditate upon them, walking in them and teaching them, to have no other Gods and to look to Him alone for everything and to honour His Name (which involves more than we think).
Shalom D’vorah,
Amen.
Hi, guys! I will let this run for few more than and then we will close the comments on this post (common practice in blogging when discussions gets too long :-))
Daniel: De acuerdo a tu solicitud, y por cuanto no soy exactamente un 100% angloparlante, me explico en mi idioma nativo, que, segun veo es el tuyo tambien, salvo algunas inflexiones locales(por nacionalidad, seguramente, y con todo el respeto del mundo). He entendido de mis lecturas y de algunas(no todas) enseñanzas, que .1) El amor es el mas grande de los mandamientos; 2)Las obras del Espiritu son por Fe( por haber escuchado con esta) pues si no tienes Fe(en D-s y Jesus el Cristo) de nada sirve la obra, pues no dara fruto, que es el fin ultimo, para el esperado Reino por venir. Por consiguiente, si tienes Fe en que el Reino del Altisimo viene y el Gobierno del mismo sera ejercido por Jesus, junto con aquellos que sean llamados a esta gestion, y que los demas viviran en paz y armonia, no importando su color,tamaño, idioma,etc.,entonces Jesus aro en el mar(en todo caso esta parte no la creo ) por cuanto como antes dije, he visto sanados de enfermedades(yo mismo uno de ellos), he recibido testimonio de otros que fueron sanados, he sido provisto de pan en mi necesidad, al igual que otros y consolado en mi angustia; quiza un dia Adonay me permita ver una resucitacion (aun cuando considero no ser digno de aquello). Esto estimado amigo(mis disculpas por el abuso del calificativo), es mi rudimentario entender de las obras por la Fe en D-s Padre y en su Hijo Unigenito, mi Señor Jesus el Cristo quien vino a clarificar el sentido gravoso de la Ley impuesto por los sacerdotes de la epoca( y vigente en algunas doctrinas), enseñando con palabras simples la Ley que fue hecha para sabios y no sabios. Espero que te haya quedado mas clara la intencion del comentario previo. Bendiciones para ti y toda tu casa.
Shalom Gustavo,
Doy gracias a Dios por tus palabras hermano. Me sirvieron de aliento esta mañana. Tu teologia es acorde con la palabra de Dios. No se lo que significa lo de “Cristo aro en el mar,” pero no parece importar mucho. Creo en obras milagrosas de sanación y de otra indole por el Espiritu, pero no me dejo llevar por ellos ya que la palabra de Dios deja claro que estas cosas son falsificables y tampoco son lo que crea la verdadera fe. Vea Colosenses 2:8; 2 Tesalonicenses 2:9-12. El maligno puede copiar muchas obras milagrosas pero lo que nunca puede hacer, ni hara, es predicar la verdad: el evangelio correctamente al 100%. Vea Juan 8:44; 2 Tesalonicenses 2:9-12. Siempre introducira algun error o cambio sutil para restarle gloria a Dios y su Cristo.
En el caso de esta página, veo que muchos consideran que Cristo nos salva PERO hay que someterse a la Ley de Moises para ser santo. Como si la salvación (particularmente la sanctificación) se tratará de una obra nuestra, (alguno incluso piensa que la fe es obra nuestra), apoyado por el Espiritu de Dios. Esto, si es su punto de vista, y lo parece ser, es falso. Vea Juan 17:17; 1 Tesalonicenses 4:9; 5:23; Hebreos 12:2. El Espiritu de Dios nos justifica, nos sanctifica, y nos glorifica en un plumazo y a lo largo de nuestras vidas crecemos en la verdad y obramos y andamos de acuerdo con ella. Vea Juan 6:63; Romanos 7:14-24; 8:13, 28-30. El llamamiento a hacer buenas obras según lo que estipula la ley es una trampa, ya que por la ley viene el pecado y la esclavitud a ello. Más la ley de Moises no manda en ningún momento predicar el evangelio (nuestro principal cometido) sino a fijarnos en lo carnal, lo visible, las reglas, las ordenanzas. Tales cosas no complacen a Dios, sino a los hombres, quienes los utilizan para su vanagloria y para distinguirse entre ellos. Vea Lucas 16:14-15; 1 Juan 2:15-16. (No digo que una interpretación acorde con el Espiritu de la ley no sea provechoso por que lo es, hablo de lo carnal y visible). Asi he visto muchos con una falsa humildad predicando un evangelio social donde lo que premia es eradicar la pobreza y el hambre en el mundo y traer la paz entre los hombres. Eso no es el cometido de un Cristiano. Compara 1 Tesalonicenses 5:2-3 con Colosenses 3:1-2.
Esta teologia falsa, (Cristo + obras carnales de la ley = Salvación) lo veo en semilla en esta página y me entristece. Porque esa, en mi punto de vista, es la religion falsa (centrado en el hombre y sus obras), que únira a los hombres de la tierra y que vendra a dominar el mundo antes de que venga el Señor. Esto es lo que deduzco de 2 Tesalonicenses 2:11-12 y 1 Tesalonicenses 5:2-3 y otros versiculos. Casi todas las denominaciones Protestantes (en EEUU) estan infectados de alguna manera con esta visión de la soteriologia y volviendo a Roma. Un Cristo que no es capaz de salvar de principio a fin, sin la ayuda del hombre, no es un Cristo verdadero. Una teologia que no premia la evangelización debida (que habla de juicio y pecado) como el acto de amor más importante que puede realizar un hombre por Dios o otros hombres, no es una teologia verdadera. Perdoname por escribrirte una respuesta tan larga. Que gracia y paz te sean multiplicados en el conocimiento de nuestro Señor Jesucristo.
Sorry for the length of my comment Dr. Eli. I really did not want to comment in Spanish but I felt I should. It’s harder for me to write concisely in Spanish. Forgive me.
Matt 25: 34-45
My ego is starting to become involved so I will end my comments with this last pseudo parable.
Daniel, let’s say you and I have a mutual friend. You tell me he has 4 daughters. I say I don’t think that is correct. But you are insistent he has 4 daughters.
I go ask him. He says he has one daughter and one son.
When I give you that information you insist you are right.
Bill
Hi Bill, It is good to find you online again. What was the blog we first ran across each other?
Bill,
As regards Matt 25: 34-45
I assume you want me to understand that there is one interpretation for this parable and I believe you are right. Here it is:
The righteous sheep exhorted their fellow brethren in Christ and preached the gospel to Christ’s sheep (which is what all the metaphors are about I was hungry (for the word), thirsty (for the word), stranger (needy Christian),, naked (afflicted by sin), prisoner (under the law/or afflicted by sin), sick (afflicted by sin), are about. Christ healed the sick, came to release the captives, preached the good news to the poor who were heavy laden and under the bondage of the law. He said his followers would do greater things than those (John 14:12) and they did because by preaching the word of God they did all Christ did physically, spiritually. In the end, the sheep don’t even know they have done anything for Christ and say when did we see you and do any of these things?.
The goats, by contrast, proudly ask Christ when did we NOT see you and do all those things to you? See Matthew 25:44. You see the goats did all of what Christ lists but physically. They fed and clothed the homeless and the stranger, they did prison ministry, they went to visit the sick, all visible acts of compassion which (eternally) profit nothing (because they save no one) but rather are visible acts of piety that are highly esteemed among men. These are proud and self-righteous people who have not the spirit of Christ and who disobeyed the call to preach the gospel to the lost or exhort and edify Christians with a word (which are true acts of love done to the Son of God in the believer) because their ego got in the way. Shalom.
Deeper then that really, Daniel. Not that one can’t see it that way as well. There is more then one level in interpreting and studying scripture. There is so much to see. In a way Bill is correct and in a way I am. Would like to discuss if you are interested. Peace in Messiah, Cathy
Daniel,
You are more legalistic than 90% of Orthodox Jews.
Bill
Bill,
On this blog, Cathy insinuates that I am teaching lawlessness while you say I am a legalist. I don’ t know how either of you come to your conclusions.. Maybe you can show me a comment of mine on this page which suggests that I am a legalist? I haven’t been teaching the law; in fact, I have been teaching that we are not under the Law of Moses, but under the Law of Christ.. So please show me how I could possibly be considered a legalist. Shalom.
Daniel,
We are no longer under the law of Sin and Death!!! When you speed and get a ticket, you are under the law by breaking it, the curse of the law. When you pay the ticket you aren’t all of a sudden no longer under the law, so now you can drive as you please. You still have to obey the law. Out of key strokes can’t finish thought.
To try and finish. When Paul says we are no longer under the law, He is not talking about the Law of Liberty (G-d’s Torah) he is talking about the dogma of the Pharisees and the law of sin and death. We have a new Adam who when we die to the flesh, are reborn in the spirit, to live by the law of liberty. There is no freedom without the law.
If there is no law, then there is no sin. No need to be saved by anything, no reason to try and be a light to the world. We cannot tell someone that they are headed to the wrong place without G-d because they are sinners, for if there is no law, there is no sin. Then Christ died needlessly. Again I am out of space. Email me and I will explain.
Again Daniel, the Torah nor the commentaries nor practicing Jews teach about the law like you teach it. In fact they all teach 180 degrees opposite, as did Jesus.
You are the one who doesn’t understand the message.
Bill
Daniel,
My apologies. I didn’t understand you were asking about the passage from Is you posted. While it is potentially a Messianic prophecy it is also aimed at a fallen people. They have got so bad they can only understand one message at a time. They have withdrawn from God and from Torah.
As for me not understanding, there is much I don’t understand. But I do understand that Jesus was Jewish. His Bible was the Tanach, specifically the Torah. He taught almost exclusively to the Jews, whom the law was God’s covenant with. He nor Paul never taught the covenant marked by the law was null and void.
Unfortunately we have 1800 years of bad teaching about Torah and the law and you have picked the bad teaching right up.
By the way saying Paul and Jesus only practiced the law around the Gentiles in order to teach them the word (my phraseology) make them both deceivers.
Bill
Bill,
I never said that Jesus only practiced the Torah around the Gentiles in order to teach them the word. That would be blaspheme because Christ my Saviour was sent into the world, in part, to perfectly obey the Law.
I did say that Paul obeyed the Law for the benefit of others because he himself said so:
“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.”
1 Corinthians 9:19-20.
That’s pretty plain speech Bill. I can’t be any clearer than Paul. Paul also said: “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.” 1 Corinthians 10:23. I don’t think you could catch a single orthodox Jew saying that today, or then, could you?.
My problem with what you have said so far, and what I have read on this page more generally, is that your cross is not offensive in the least. I hear it a lot in Protestant circles these days too. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Christ died, BUT…we have to do good works and make the world a better place. There is no BUT and the world will not be a better place. That’s not the gospel of Jesus Christ.
..
Bill,
When you say there have been 1800 years of bad teaching of the TORAH, and the law you have made Jesus and Paul out to be liars. Christ said that the Spirit would guide the believers into ALL truth (John 16:13; as per Psalm 25:5), whereas Paul wrote that God had taught the believers how to love each other. See 1 Thessalonians 4:9. See also John 6:45. This is not to mention the fact that every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit which is the spirit of truth. See John 14:16-17. The Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons (having the spirit of error) make the same claim you make. Are you sure you don’t want to correct that statement? Could you be wrong? Shalom.
Daniel,
Not given many words to say anymore. Would like to continue these conversations with you I am on Yahoo. I am Jacobsdottir07 – the Icelandic way of saying Jacobs daughter. If you are interested in continuing this fun study – please contact me and let me know. In Messiah Yeshua, Shalom