What is upsetting is the truth that a great many Christians, those who say they are followers of Christ, view Torah in much the same way. Their understanding of the Law has about as much Biblical evidence as Santa Claus. (by the way Zechariah 2:6 "Ho ho come forth from the land of the north" KJV is not a reference to Santa). We have been told that the Law, Torah, is obsolete. That it ended with the resurrection of Christ. That it was an old covenant and does not apply to anyone, Jew or Gentile, today. If you try to follow God's Law you are a legalist and deny the work of Christ. The purpose of the Law is completed; Paul said so and so did Jesus. That is Paul's teaching in Galatians and Romans; everyone knows that. Or do we? Are we as far off with Torah as we are with Christmas, but with far greater consequences?
I give you fair warning that the reading of this blog may cause distress in your spiritual life. The concepts here could change your perspective on lots of things you thought you knew. I will challenge you to actually believe some things that you give lip service to, but don't really integrate into your reading of God's Word, especially the letters by the Apostle Paul. You see, I believe that Paul was Jewish. I mean he was born a Jew, lived as a Jew and died as a Jew. He never "converted" to some new belief system called Christianity. He was a messianic Jew. He was a rabbi and had a special mission to the Gentiles to tell them that through the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua, they could gain access to God's kingdom. However, he remained a Jew. You might say to yourself, "Well, yes I pretty much agree with that, except maybe for the conversion part." If that is really true, you can throw away most commentaries because they disagree. Not with the statement, just with what it does to your understanding of Scripture if you apply that reality to what Paul writes. We will take a look at a few verses in Paul's letter to the Galatians to make the point.
As you read through the book of Acts you can pick up a bit of a bio on the life of Saul/Paul as you follow his ministry. Paul was a Jew. He spoke Hebrew (Acts21:40). in Acts 22:3 Paul says he is currently a Jew. He declares that he is a Pharisee, not was (Acts 23:6). In Acts 28:17 - 20, Paul speaks to the Jewish Elders in Rome, and tells them he has done nothing against their people, the Jews, or of the customs and practices of their fathers. He is Torah observant. Throughout Paul's ministry, recorded in Acts, he goes to the synagogues to speak of Yeshua as Messiah. He desires to be in Jerusalem for Passover and take a vow, in accordance with the Law. He does not take Gentiles into the Temple which would be a violation of Torah. In writing to the Philippians, in 3:5-6, Paul says he (present tense) is circumcised, of Israel, of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews, a Pharisee, zealous to protect Judaism, and Torah observant. Paul was a follower of the Jewish Messiah, who proclaimed a message of the Jewish Messiah that all who trusted in Messiah could be in His kingdom. Paul did not convert to anything. He lived and eventually died as a Hebrew, a Jewish Rabbi, who believed that Yeshua was the Jewish Messiah Who also welcomed the Gentiles to believe and be a part of His kingdom.
If that is true, the record in Acts, and if Paul's testimony in Philippians is also true, then Paul would also write from that perspective. He would write as a Torah observant Jew. If his writings indicated otherwise, then he suffered some mental problems, or simply lied. Or perhaps we have read our own understanding into what he wrote.
Galatians is a favorite stronghold for those who teach that Paul taught that the Law, that Torah, has been made null and void. First, let us be reminded as to whom Paul is writing. 1:2 "to the Assemblies who are in Galatia." Iconium is one of the cities of Galatia, where, according to Acts 14:1, Paul taught at the synagogue. Who was there? Jews and Gentiles. So this letter would likely have been read in the synagogue to a very diverse group. Jews, Messianic Jews, proselyte Gentiles, Messianic proselyte Gentiles, Messianic Gentiles and God seeking Gentiles, would make up the audience. It would be very helpful at this point if you got a Bible and read Galatians 3:19 - 4:7. The point here is not to give a verse by verse exposition but to raise a question or two and give an alternative understanding of the passage.
Some highlights. The Law, Torah, amplifies sin. It reveals where we fall short of God's standards. The Law, Torah is not against the promises of God. The Scripture, Torah, 3:22, has sygkiaio "confined" NKJV. Other translations translate the word: under restraint, kept under guard, shut up, imprisoned, or locked up. The word, at its root, simply means to enclose, like sheep in a pen. 3:23 the Law kept us "under guard" until faith came. The Law, Torah, was our paidagogos, our tutor or teacher. This is an important word to understand Paul's point. The history of the paidagogos tells us he was a servant responsible for the direction and training of the father's son. He made sure the child got to school and to whatever training opportunity the child had. He was to protect the child and keep him safe and out of trouble. He was responsible for the character building of the child. When the child came of age he was released to walk with the father doing the father’s bidding and the father’s will. He no longer needed the paidagogos, for what he had learned had been incorporated into his life. This would now guide and protect him as he took on the responsibilities the father had for him.The Law, Torah, gives instruction and direction on how to best live. It was there as a fence of protection until it was integrated into the child's life. (By the way, Jeremiah 31:33 promises that under the New Covenant, brought by Messiah, God will put the Law, or Torah, on our hearts and in our minds. We won't need the written Law paidagogos for it will be integrated into our hearts, minds, and lives.) I believe this is Paul's perspective.
But let us look at a typical commentary. This is from the Expositors Bible Commentary Chapter 15 commenting on Galatians 3:25 - 29. "FAITH has come! At this announcement Law the tutor yields up his charge; Law the jailer sets his prisoner at liberty. The age of servitude has passed. In truth it endured long enough. The iron of its bondage had entered into the soul. But at last Faith is come; and with it comes a new world. The clock of time cannot be put back. The soul of man will never return to the old tutelage, nor submit again to a religion of rabbinism and sacerdotalism. "We are no longer under a pedagogue"; we have ceased to be children in the nursery, schoolboys at our tasks-"ye are all sons of God." In such terms the new-born, free spirit of Christianity speaks in Paul. He had tasted the bitterness of the Judaic yoke; no man more deeply. He had felt the weight of its impossible exactions, its fatal condemnation. This sentence is a shout of deliverance. "Wretch that I am," he had cried," who shall deliver me?-I give thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord; for the law of the Spirit of life in Him hath freed me from the law of sin and death". Almost any commentary will express this point of view.
Now be honest here, does this sound like the meaning intended by a devout, Torah observant Rabbi? One who calls Torah holy and good and right. One who just a few verses before said that Torah, the Law was never against the promises of God. Would Paul ever call Torah a bitter Judaic yoke? The man who said he never violated his Jewish fathers' customs would suggest he would never submit to rabbinic teaching or to the sacred practices of his fathers' faith? Would he enthusiastically have rejected the inspired Words of Yahweh giving him instruction and direction as how to best live? Would Paul really tell his fellow Jews and the Gentiles believers in the synagogue to fully reject the very Law God promised to write on their hearts? In the Apostle Paul's words "God forbid!".
I do not propose to be a great scholar or by any means infallible, but either the commentary has missed the point or Paul is not who the Scriptures say that he is.
Here is another possible way to look at the Galatians passage. "But the Scripture has enclosed all (Jew and Gentile) under sin, that the promise, by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, might be supplied (or granted) to those who believe. Torah was not given to provide a way of salvation but to protect us and show us God’s design as to how we should live. The promise of God (deliverance and new life) came to us through the faithfulness of Messiah. Before this act of faithfulness came we were fenced in or protected by Torah, kept for the promise realized through the faithfulness yet to be revealed. Therefore Torah was our paidagogos, our protector and guide, to Messiah, that we might be justified through His Faithfulness. By faith, Torah is now written on our hearts, so we no longer need a paidagogos and we are all, Jew and Gentile, sons of God through the faithfulness of Messiah Jesus."
We are justified through the Faithfulness of Messiah. The focus should be upon Him and His work to redeem us and deliver us from death. The translators paint the Law in the darkest terms and focus on our faith rather than Christ's faithfulness. It is all about me and how I can live without the Law, without Torah. Those who teach and comment would agree that this freedom from the "tutor" is not license, for we are to walk in obedience. But, obedience to what? And what of Jeremiah 31:33? If the "imprisoning iron bondage" has been forever removed, just what is written on our hearts?
As the New Year begins many of us will make the decision to be more
consistent with our Bible reading. Maybe get one of those "Read Through the Bible in a Year" schedules to help us keep on track. My question is, will we be content to just read as we have in the past years. Just accepting what we see from our American, Western perspective. Only asking the question, "What does it mean to me?" Or will we take the time to ask, "What did the writer mean?" or "What did the first people who heard this think?" Will we take into account what we know about Daniel, David, Paul, Peter, Moses or John? They were all Jewish. They were all committed to the God of Israel. They were all committed to obey Torah. None of them saw themselves as "Christian". So what does the text mean in light of those facts?
If we approach our reading from this perspective we can more accurately apply what we learn to our lives. Far more effort is required, but isn't God worth it? We could make that commitment or we can just say, "Well, no worries, we are under grace and free from the law. I can depend on my faith to make it all okay. God knows my heart, He can't actually want me to put any effort into knowing Him and His Word." "Isn't that what the Apostle Paul just said?" No, I don't think so. But the real question is "What do you think?"
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