Messiah’s Instruction

Below is the new entry on our website about the Scriptures. The Torah is the bedrock of Scripture; throw it away, and you throw away your sure foundation. Understanding Messiah is done best when understanding how He viewed and taught His Torah.

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We believe the Scriptures are complete and perfect in Genesis to Revelation. Yeshua affirms the Jewish canon in His day [Luke 11:51]. We accept the canon of the Brit Khadashah [Renewed Covenant Scriptures] to be the writings of named and known apostles and disciples of Yeshua who are shown to have had the Ru’akh HaKodesh. These books are reflected in “HaDavar“, a modern publication of the Semitic texts.  All those books were written by the hands of men, but inspired by God Himself. Those who wrote them were writing them by the inspiration of the Ru’akh HaKodesh [The Holy Breath/Presence of God] [2 Tim 3:16]. 

The Torah is the first five books and the bedrock and foundation of Holy Scripture. [Eph 2:20] These books were dictated to Moshe when He was on the Mountain with God, after the Exodus. All the other scriptures derive from and support the Torah; they do not contradict it. Our interpretation of later scriptures cannot contradict, contravene, or abrogate the Torah. [Mat 5:17-19]

The Torah is called ‘law’; but, more accurately, it is ‘instruction’. The Torah is instructions for righteous living. [2 Tim 3:16] It teaches us to love God, and to love people. Without that approach, it becomes an unwieldy weapon. 

The Torah’s whole purpose was to guide the nation of Israel to the Messiah [Rom 10:4]. From its very inception, the goal was to guide the way to Salvation, by FAITH.

It contains, ‘statutes’, ‘decrees’, and ‘laws’. But it is ONE Torah. There is not a separate set of laws for one group of people over another. [Exodus 12:49]

Yeshua upheld and taught the Torah [Mat 5-7]. Sha’ul upheld and taught the Torah [Rom 3:31, Acts 19:10]. All the apostles upheld the Torah. It was not done away with. In fact, Yeshua was careful to keep it, and to teach it. It is His Torah, the “Torah of Messiah” [otherwise called “The Law of Christ”, Gal 6:2]. Messiah did not come to make a new law. He renewed/refreshed our understanding of His Torah.

We are beholden to keep the ‘laws’ which we are indeed able to keep, and we can, because we are given the Power of His Ru’akh [Breath/Spirit] to do so, power not to sin.  Sin is the breaking of the Torah [1 John 3:4]. 

Our Jewish people did not keep it. [Acts 7:53] They still do not. They created a ‘fence’ around the Torah, and they will still tell you that today. This was done by the Pharisees, and Yeshua excoriated them for it. [Mark 7:1-13]. Yeshua wrested the spiritual, interpretive power and authority from the Rabbis, and they killed Him for it. [ Mat 7:29 , Mat 28:18]. He is our ONE Rabbi. [Mat 23:8]. Those who seek to “Walk” the Torah and trust in Yeshua must walk His Halakhah. [1 Jo 2:4-6]. To follow today’s Rabbis is the very spirit of Anti-Messiah, because they reject Yeshua as the Messiah. They deny that Messiah is already come in the flesh, and that we have the Ru’akh by our confession of Him as the Son of God. To follow them is to reject Yeshua as one’s Rabbi. Not to follow The Torah is to reject Yeshua as one’s Rabbi. [1 Jo 4:1-3]

The Torah is entirely keepable. [Deut 30:14]. There are many ‘mitzvot’ in the Torah; but, many of them do not apply today: laws about cultivation of the land of Israel, laws about the priesthood, laws of ritual purity for service in the temple, laws that apply to one’s opposite gender, etc, are not obligatory to one endeavoring today to reflect the righteousness of the Torah as Messiah taught it. Yeshua did not even keep them all, because they were not directed at Him, but at others [ Heb 8:4 , women, priests, etc].

What we ARE able to keep are the commandments concerning worshipping God in His Way, commandments concerning how we treat other people, and concerning the governance of our hearts and minds, and about what to eat for the health of our bodies, as food. All of these are not only keepable, but obligatory after trusting in Messiah, for the purpose of preserving the Body and being light to mankind. To say one has no requirements of righteousness and worship is tantamount to treason. God’s realm is a Kingdom. Yeshua is its King. His Torah governs His people. It does not SAVE them, but it KEEPS them safe. And it makes us a LIGHT to the NATIONS. [Is 2:1-4].

Here is a list of all the mitzvot, and an attempt at marking the ones we should endeavor to reflect in our lives.