What Did Jesus Teach About the Torah, Part 1?

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. -Matthew 28:19-20

This is the ninth part of my series on what Yeshua (Jesus) directed his Jewish disciples to teach the newly minted Gentile Messianic disciples to obey. Today, we'll take a hard look at what Yeshua (Jesus) taught his Jewish disciples to teach about obeying the Law, otherwise known as the Torah. Before we get to that, let's review the previous lesson: What Did Jesus Teach About Response and Acceptance:

In a nutshell, we learn that when we hear the Good News of Messiah Yeshua that's being delivered to the entire world, we must respond by building the foundation of our lives on the Rock and then sharing the seed that was planted with as many as we can. Put the Word into practice so we can bear good fruit and yield large crops of disciples for the Master. It's not so much whether we say "yes" or "no" but whether we repent and then "do" that counts.

I hadn't planned to write another blog in this series today, but I was updating the information on my congregation's website about a class I plan to start teaching later in October, and I realized that the content completely folded into this series. In fact, this series is the basis for the reboot on my class on the Torah commandments and Gentiles.

For almost two years, the class examined each of the 613 Commandments that traditional Judaism states were given to the Children of Israel by God. I felt that, if we looked at the commandments using the traditional Jewish format, we could see how we Messianic disciples could better serve our Master and Lord. The result, though quite interesting and illuminating, seemed to be missing one important element: Yeshua. Specifically, we were missing this:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. -Matthew 28:19-20

Yes, I know I quote these words of the Master at the beginning of every blog post in this series, but now, we're zeroing in on some very important material. Yeshua commanded the Jewish Messianic disciples to make disciples of all of the Gentile nations teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. The key to what we should be learning of the commandments lies in what Yeshua actually taught as reflected in the Gospels. It's from there that we will discover the entrance to the Torah for Gentile disciples. In pursuit of this new line of study, there are a number of other scriptures we must consider:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. -Matthew 5:17-20

From this, we know that the Torah of Moses was not done away with when Yeshua perished on the execution stake, but this scripture is also sometimes used to support the concept that Gentile disciples, as "grafted in" (Romans 11:11-24), are obligated to the full 613 commandments, just as are the Jewish disciples and as Jews have been since the days of Moses. However, this would make Gentile disciples and Jewish disciples virtually indistinguishable from one another and except for circumcision (and some Gentiles in the Messianic movement believe that even the Brit Milah is for Gentile Messianics), we would be identical in appearance, form, and substance, to our Jewish brothers and sisters. Was this God's intent? If so, why are we Gentiles not simply encouraged to convert to Judaism? Paul spoke harshly against Gentile conversion to Judaism:

Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts. Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. -1 Corinthians 7:17-20

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. -Galatians 5:2-6

Clearly Gentile disciples were not meant to be turned into Jewish disciples. Doing so would completely devalue the sacrifice of the Messiah. Also, 1 Corinthians 7:17-20 states that being Jewish or Gentile isn't the important point but that keeping God's commands is what counts, yet Galatians 5:2-6 says that Gentiles should not seek conversion to Judaism for if we convert, we will be obligated to obey the whole law. Paul also states here that what's most important is faith expressing itself through love, not being a Jew or a Gentile.

The two verses seem confusing and almost contradictory as far as Gentile Torah observance is concerned. So what does this mean for Gentile observance of the Torah commandments relative to Jewish observance? I don't plan to give a definitive answer in this blog post, but I do plan to explore the issue more fully in the class I'll be teaching in October (and if you click this link, you'll see the class announcement displays a startling similarity to this blog post).

Just one thought before proceeding. In 1 Corinthians 7, when Paul says that people should remain as who they are (circumcised or uncircumcised) and that obeying the Torah is the most important thing, if you look at his words from a certain perspective, you could imagine he's saying that Torah obedience is different for each group. I can't prove this one way or the other right now, but keep it in mind.

There are a few other passages that are specifically relevant:

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." -Matthew 22:36-40

This, of course, is the Master quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 and seemingly indicating that these two commandments are like two large containers, and within these containers, are the sum of all of the other commandments given by God. Since Yeshua is teaching this and since the Matthew 28 directive mandates that the Jewish disciples teach the Gentile disciples everything Yeshua taught, what does that mean for we Gentiles today? Also consider this:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices - mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law - justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. -Matthew 23:23-24

This is one of the "seven woes" Yeshua speaks to the corrupt Pharisees and Torah teachers as recorded in Matthew 23 and which I taught about in a previous blog post, but note an important point. He says "You should have practiced the latter (ceremonial laws), without neglecting the former (moral laws).

I'm sorry I'm dividing the Torah into "ceremonial" and "moral" laws. This is how the church typically views the Torah and how it justifies disregarding the Shabbat (ceremonial) while attending to commandments such as feeding the hungry and visiting the sick (moral), yet in Matthew 23:23, Yeshua teaches obedience to both! If this is part of what Yeshua intended to be taught to the Gentile disciples, then it has tremendous impact on how we Gentile disciples today learn and obey the Torah of Moses.

One more thing. Yeshua says that justice, mercy, and faithfulness are more important matters than giving a tenth of our spices in the Temple. Adding to this, in Mark 12:33, the man speaking to Yeshua regarding the two greatest commandment replies, "to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." In other words, substance is more important than the mechanics.

Conclusion: What did Yeshua instruct the Jewish disciples to teach the Gentile disciples to obey about the Torah?

1. The Jewish disciples are responsible to teach the Gentile disciples of Yeshua everything Yeshua had taught them.
2. Yeshua didn't eliminate the Torah but rather, he came as the living embodiment of Torah, to show us that it is possible for a human being to obey God. The Torah is here to stay.
3. Anyone who breaks a single commandment of the Torah or teaches others to break the commandments will be called "least in the Kingdom of Heaven". Be careful if you tell someone that they don't have to obey a commandment.
4. If you came to faith in Yeshua as a Jew, stay a Jew. If you came to faith in Yeshua as a Gentile, stay a Gentile. Obeying the commandments is what counts.
5. If you, as a Gentile, convert to Judaism in order to seek justification by the Torah rather than by faith, the Messiah will be of no value to you at all. Faith expressed through love is what counts.
6. The two greatest commandments, loving God with everything you've got, and loving your neighbor as yourself, exist as two big buckets which contain the sum of the Torah and the Prophets.
7. Keep all of the law. Don't subdivide it into what you do in the Temple and what you do for human beings, disregarding one and clinging to the other. However, of the two sides of the coin, doing justice, mercy, and faithfulness is more important.

This is the first blog post in this series where I've quoted other "authorities" besides Yeshua, namely Paul in this case. Yet as a Messianic disciple and as the disciple who was charged to be an emissary to the Gentiles, Paul was uniquely positioned to obey the Matthew 28 directive, so I feel that I'm on solid ground by quoting him as well as the Master.

Paul said two things that are hard to put together. He said that obeying the Law was the most important thing and he said that faith expressing itself as love is the most important thing. On the surface, if you look at the two statements in their scriptural contexts, they seem to contradict each other, but if you take the two greatest commandments into consideration, then obeying the commandments of God is expressing faith as love, as long as we keep our priorities straight. You could also interpret this contradiction as there being two different ways of obeying the Torah, one for Jews and one for Gentiles. I have no conclusion on this point right now.

In a nutshell, for today's lesson, we learn that Gentiles are supposed to learn and obey everything Yeshua taught, including the fact that the Torah will be with us for a long time. We learned that God called each of us as the person He made us to be, so Jews don't have to turn into Gentiles, and Gentiles don't have to turn into Jews in order to be disciples of the Messiah and in fact, deliberately turning ourselves into something we're not just because we think it will justify us before God, makes Yeshua valueless to us. Loving God and loving others is the totality of the Torah and the Prophets and we should do both, not neglecting one for the other. In order to find out what comes next, we can't neglect what the Torah teaches, because that's what Yeshua teaches.

I made this blog post a "Part 1" because there's still a gaping hole in the middle of how and in what parts of the Torah Yeshua expects Gentile obedience. What I'm trying to say here, is that Gentile Torah obedience may be more than what "strict Messianic Judaism" wants to believe. That said, it may also be quite different than what One Law/One Torah adherents have traditionally understood.

To be continued.