Yeshua, the son of the almighty God who created the heavens and the earth, chose to humble Himself and come to the earth, to His people the Hebrew, as a Rabbi. A teacher of the Torah.
He was recognized and honored as a righteous man (a Tzaddik) and a Rabbi by those who knew him and even from the Pharisees and Saducees of the day. This means that they recognized that he was a Torah-keeping and teaching scholar of the Torah (the Pentetuch) and the Tenach (the rest of the Scriptures Christians call the “old testament”.

So Jesus, the Rabbi was a teacher of the Old Testament, by choice as His ministry. This meant that he chose disciples and taught them his “Way” of understanding and living out the way of keeping the Torah. This is a Rabbi’s “Halacha”.

Yeshua kept Kosher, he didn’t ever eat pork, shellfish, or any unclean animal. He lived according to the Torah perfectly, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been without sin. Torah is the standard God gave us against sin (Jesus will use the Torah as the standard when he judges the world). When he saved the young woman accused of adultery and destined for stoning, he admonished her to, “Go and sin no more”. What this meant was, go and keep the Torah perfectly!

His ministry was to keep Torah and to teach his disciples how to properly keep Torah. (That is precisely what a Rabbi does!)

So when Christians say we are “free from the law”, they say it understanding a valuable truth, that Yeshua set us free from the consequences of breaking the Torah, the curse. And yes, He set us free from the curse of the law, but not to break the law, to walk it out for the world to see (That they would know us by His love)! To love God with our whole heart, mind, body and soul, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. To keep the 10 commandments.. to live clean (kosher) lives, free of sexual immorality, idolotry, lying, bitterness, dissension, etc..

In a relationship, we are either moving towards connection or away from connection with each other. God longs for us to be one with Him. In fact, this is the purpose for which He made us, it is the reason Yeshua came and it is for this oneness that He died, so that He might live in us. When we continue in sin, we ‘miss the mark’ which is God. Which means we separate ourselves from Him – by our own choice.

Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”.

So for example, if you eat kosher meat, does that make you holy? NO! But if your motivation is to draw near to God, then by eating kosher, in the flesh, you are walking in self-control which is a fruit of the spirit. the act itself is worthless, but the consequence of the act, if motivated through love, can be fruit in the Spirit.

As we walk in the light together, may we drive each other to deeper connection with God.