Q&A – IS THE DISCIPLE OF YAHUSHUA “UNDER THE LAW” - 2

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Q&A –  IS THE DISCIPLE OF YAHUSHUA “UNDER THE LAW” - 2

Hebrews 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

The reason Messiah exhorted them (in Matthew 5) to teach and to keep the law was to keep the purpose of the Torah alive. The purpose of the Torah was two-fold.  First, it was to convince the Jews that they were no different than the ten tribes that had been divorced from IAUE, and no different from the pagan gentiles of the world. They were all sinners.  Secondly, it was to bring them to Messiah….to faith in what Messiah has accomplished on their behalf IN ORDER THAT they might receive the righteousness of IAUE that is in Messiah Yahushua…that they might have a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.

The testimony of Scripture that declares and establishes this point runs throughout the Old and New Testament.  It is possibly the singularly most taught subject matter of the New Testament. To miss it is to be blind.  It is to have eyes that see not and ears that hear not.  The Gospels and the book of Revelation repeatedly call out to those who have eyes that see and ears that hear that they might be aware of what the Holy Spirit is saying and doing.

One of the most blatant evidences of the error of the Torah-keepers is their dissection of the Law. It is obvious, having trusted in the death and resurrection of Messiah Yahushua that they cannot adhere to the laws regarding sacrifices. They do not obey the Torah when it comes to the sacrifice of atonement, or the sacrifices of turtle doves, lambs, goats and bulls for their various forms of transgressions of the law. They also do not adhere to the laws regarding washings/baptism to cleanse themselves from the defilement of their transgressions of the law.  Paul speaks very clearly about this picking and choosing what you will obey and what you no longer need to obey.

Galatians 3:10  For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of IAUE, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

12  And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

Paul dedicates his entire epistle to the Galatians to deal with this question.  Every chapter points the Galatians to the foolishness of Torah-keeping; and here he declares that if you are going to choose to be under the law, you are committed to keeping ALL of the Torah; not just the parts you select to obey. The Torah is a unit of law. It is not subdividable; and yet the Torah-keeping movement is committed to the dietary laws (among other aspects of the law).  To this Paul declares:

Galatians 2:11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.

12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.

14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

Paul publicly rebuked the apostle Peter; one of the three inner-circle apostles who walked with and fellowshipped with Yahushua Messiah in person for three years; Peter, one of the “pillars of the church.” Why?  Because he was enjoying the liberty that we have in Messiah to eat foods that are not kosher, foods that are not prescribed by the dietary laws of the Torah; and to fellowship with gentiles; but he withdrew when he felt his liberty would be questioned by the Jewish believers that James sent up from Jerusalem. Peter had already been called on the carpet before James once earlier when he had entered into the household of Cornelius the Roman centurion.

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Messiah hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Messiah shall profit you nothing.

3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

4 Messiah is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

The Torah is like a paned glass window.  If you break the glass in the corner, the whole sheet of glass is broken. You cannot break only a part of the law.  This nature of the Torah is the very thing that was intended to convince the Jews that they are sinners and in need of a redeemer.

Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, IAUE sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

This word “redeem” (Greek: exagorazo) means to pay the price to ransom one out of his/her bondage/slavery.  Yahushua was send by IAUE, to be made like his brethren, made of a woman, made
“under the law” in order to ransom all who were in bondage to the law…to redeem them from the law.  It could be compared to someone entering a prison, to be held as a prisoner and to live under its rules and conditions; but uniquely having the capacity to satisfy every single demand of the prison in order to release its hold on all of the prisoners that they may all be able to walk out of that prison and be made free.  Logically, no one who had been a prisoner would opt to go back into the environs of that prison and impose upon themselves anew the rigors of rules and regulations that they were never able to keep.

Galatians 3:15 Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.

16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Messiah.

17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of IAUE in Messiah, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

Paul reminds them that the law came 430 years AFTER the covenant was cut with Abraham. Once a covenant has been cut, provisions cannot be removed from nor added to the covenant. In other words, the Torah cannot impact the Abrahamic covenant either positively or negatively.  Remember, Paul said the law was added to Hebrew life not as an addendum to the covenant, but “because of transgressions,” for the promise of the covenant is of faith; but the law is not of faith.  The keeping of the law is an act of flesh; and “they that are in the flesh cannot please IAUE” (Romans 8:8). 

Colossians 2:20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Messiah from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;

22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.  (“but are of no value against sinful indulgence [because they do not honor God].”  Amplified Version)

You will recall from our last post that the law had no power to regulate the heart. It could only regulate one’s outward behavior. It required an act of human will to obey…an act of the flesh.  The law was not kept by the motivation of the inward life of a righteous spirit, for no one’s spirit was renewed until the sacrifice of Messiah Yahushua.  This is why we see the declaration of the prophet Jeremiah, prophesying of the new covenant:

Jeremiah 31:33 …I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people.

34  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know IAUE: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith IAUE: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Teaching every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying, “Know IAUE” refers to the commandment of the Torah to speak of the Torah when they rise in the morning, when they go on their way, when they come home to dinner, and before they go to bed at night; to put it on the door post of their houses and upon their gates.  They were required of the Torah to keep a constant reminder of IAUE before their eyes and ears; because their hearts were as of yet unredeemed.  Their corrupt flesh would need constant reminders of IAUE or else their lives would quickly betray how fickle and easily lead astray they could become.  The New Covenant eliminates the need for this because the law of IAUE would be written in their “inward parts” and “in their hearts.”  Instead of the written Torah; when they will be obeying is the law of IAUE revealed to them by the voice of the Holy Spirit; or as Paul calls it:

Romans 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yahushua hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Finally, it is imperative that we understand that we are no longer under the Aaronic priesthood of Israel.  Yahushua Messiah is made unto us a high priest after the order of Melchisedec.  The supremacy of that priesthood is explained in the book of Hebrews when it says “Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedec.”

Hebrews 7:9  And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.

10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.

The fact that Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedec forever subjugated the priesthood of the tribe of Levi to the priesthood of Melchisedec; making the Aaronic priesthood inferior to the priesthood of Melchisedec.

Hebrews 7:11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

13 For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.

14 For it is evident that our Master sprang out of Judah; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.

Nothing could be clearer than this.  Our high priest is not of the same priestly order, and not of the same tribe as the ministers the Torah.  His priesthood is superior, and brings man into a superior place. The trappings of the inferior order are left behind when we bow our knee to Messiah Yahushua.

Hebrews 8:4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:

5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of Elohim when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

The Levitical priesthood, the tabernacle of Moses, and the entire body of the Torah were shadows cast by the light of IAUE upon the TRUE reality which was revealed in the person and work of Messiah Yahushua.  As Paul told the Galatian disciples, the Law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Messiah.  Once we have been brought to the TRUE, the shadow has served its purpose and we are home…we are with the lover of our soul, the redeemer of our hearts; and HIS LAW, the law of the high priest of the order of Melchisedec of the tribe of Judah, is made known in our inward parts and heart by the Holy Spirit of IAUE.  We do not become lawless when we come to Messiah; we come under the law of the spirit of LIFE in Messiah Yahushua.