This is a matter of record, a matter of history. It is truth. It is not a doctrinal position, neither is it debated by any scholar, and yet, it’s almost dismissed in terms of understanding and teaching within a large portion of the Church.

Jesus was (and is) a Jewish Rabbi.He taught the Torah to his disciples. How to live it, the problems of the phariseical interpretations of certain things, not everything, but he brought interpretation to a many things that were being done. He did not teach them that it was wrong to keep the Torah, the opposite, he taught how to keep Torah, and how to understand the purpose of Torah. He brought correction to where they were living it wrong. He never even accused the Pharisees of teaching the Torah wrong, he essentially said, do as they say, not as they do. In other words, he basically agreed with what they were teaching.

He disagreed with how they were living. And he taught how to live out the Torah.

When someone says that they are a disciple of Jesus, and out of the same mouth, they say that the Troah is done away with, or irrelevant to their faith, they are proclaiming that they are not a disciple of Jesus. You cannot be a disciple of Jesus without being a disciple of Torah.

Does that mean that you have to keep the Torah for salvation? NO! We’re not talking baout doctrine yet. We’re talking about what it actually means to be a disciple of Jesus. Jesus teaches the Torah. So if I’m his disciple, I’m a torah keeper. Period.

So, now I need to understand the doctrine. What does it mean to be a Torah keeper? What did Jesus teach about it?

Jesus said,

“unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:20)

What does he mean?

John 15:3 says:

“You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you”.

So, we aren’t talking about “doing to achieve salvation”. So don’t get caught up in works for salvation, that is off the table. (never was on the table, ever).

Also, when you are clean, that doesn’t mean you stop keeping Torah (God’s instructions).

But then Jesus continues in John 15:10 and says:

“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”

So in order to “abide” in him, I must keep his commands.. or I will keep his commands because I abide in Him, either way, it is a matter of fact statement. The vines cannot live or bear fruit apart from the branch, our food and sustenance comes from Him, and our fruit must look like his fruit.

“Commandment” is a valid and good translation, but another one, perhaps better, is “instruction”. Torah literally means “instruction”.

So, if I love him, I keep his instructions. Just like he’s kept his father’s instructions.

So then, understanding what Torah is, becomes the next essential piece in this puzzle.

Commandments, or instructions are not optional. Jesus didn’t say, those who love me, can keep my instructions if they want to. It’s an absolute. If we abide in him, we WILL keep his instructions just as he kept the instructions of his father.

The 10 “commandments” in Hebrew, are translated the “10 words”.

His instructions have a purpose.

In Genesis 17:1b, God says to Abram, as he declares his eternal covenant to Abram, that the purpose of his covenant is that Abram will “walk before me and be whole*” (you’ll find that the usual translation of ‘blameless” is not the true meaning of the Hebrew word, which is clearly “whole, complete, healthful”).

So this is God’s will for Abram, 430 years before he gave Moses the written instructions (Torah). And so, each of the ‘instructions’ that God gives Moses fits into this desire of God’s. which is: “Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

They are teaching us how to abide in him, to submit to His ways, so that we can walk before him and to be whole.

He wants 2 things from us at all times.

One, he said to Abram (just before he changed his name to Abraham), “walk before me, and be whole” (or be complete). So, God’s desire for us is that we would “walk before him”, infront of him, next to him, not like in the garden, where we hid ourselves from before him. He wants us to walk before him, which means love the Lord your God, with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Two, to be whole. Forgive yourself. Love yourself, and love your neighbor as yourself. So these two principles are the reason he gave us the instructions, he gave us instructions on how to do this. This is what he wants for us. He needs how this how. So the goal is to walk before God and to love ourselves, and as a result, to love our neighbors as ourselves -meaning all of us. This is what Jesus meant when he said that he came to “fulfill” the torah. Not that he kept all the commandments perfectly, but that he enables us to walk before God and to be whole. So that we are a fulfillment of the covenant promise!

So, if that’s the case, then everything in the Torah, every one of the instructions, must be for this same purpose!

So when it says, do not take the Lord’s name in vain, that’s because I want to walk before him. Don’t have any idols in front of me, because I wanna walk before him. Keep the Sabbath day holy. Well, this one has BOTH, to walk before him, AND to be whole! Honor your father and mother, this one has a promise, so that we will live long on this earth – so be whole! Having wholeness includes being healthy, eating healthy, staying fit, kosher laws, don’t eat things that are unclean. Why? Because they’re unclean. They’re dirty. They’re not good for you. The principle is, don’t eat things that are not good for you. It includes gluttony. Don’t overeat. Love yourself, take care of yourself, be whole.

Don’t steal. If I steal, I’m guilty in my own mind, so I walk and live with shame, which means I’m not whole. Secondly, I’m hurting my neighbor, so I’m not desiring the wholeness of my brothers and my sisters. So being whole is both a requirement for myself and to seek the wholeness of my neighbor. Jesus taught this in the parable of the good samaratin. At the end, he asked, “who is the neighbor?” And he, his, his point was, your neighbor is, everybody. It’s the Samaritan. The one that, the Jews are not even allowed to touch. or be around. Right?

When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman at the well, why were his disciples shocked? Because Jesus lived and taught the Torah and lived as a holy lifestyle, separate from all other people. Including the Samaritans. So for him to be speaking to someone who was a Samaritan, was out of the ordinary for Jesus. So was he laying down a precedent that it’s okay to talk to Samaritan? Not exactly, but he’s was breaking out of the mold and saying, I want wholeness for my sister. She’s still my sister, but that doesn’t change the way that he lived. He didn’t then go living amongst the Gentiles. As a matter of fact, he taught his disciples to only preach the good news to the lost seep of the house of Israel.

I’m here to teach the Jews who have missed and misunderstood. I want to teach, tell them about the truth about my ways and what the Torah really means to give them understanding. Not to abolish the Torah. Jesus said that, he made that clear in Matthew 5:17. He said that he came to fulfill Torah, not to abolish it. Those 2 words are not synonyms, rather they are used in context in opposition to each other, comparisons. Not this, but that. He used 2 different words intentionally.

To say that Jesus came to abolish the Torah is heresy, as it goes directly against Jesus’ words. So, if you misinterpret Paul, or Peter, or Hebrews, and claim that the Torah is no longer applicable to those who follow Jesus, then you’re literally going against the words of Jesus in doctrine. Which of course is heresy. It’s impossible that Paul and Peter could ever have meant that without becoming themselves anti-Christ. They would be literally contradicting the very one for whom they claim to serve. In terms of the Acts 15 council, Gentiles are not required to keep the Torah; or to, to convert to Judaism. This is clear, because we’re talking about salvation and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, or the grace of God through Jesus, who enables us to come into the righteousness of God through Jesus. So, you can be a righteous Gentile, by believing and following in Jesus. That’s clear doctrine. But if you want to be a disciple of Jesus because you love him and want to abide in him, then we will seek out the Torah to keep the Torah in the Spirit and by the Spirit, which is to love God and become whole. Amen.