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 1. What is the Torah?

The Hebrew word Torah means “instruction.”

It is commonly translated into our Bibles by the English word “law.” The Torah is the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In those books Moses wrote the laws that God gave to instruct His people about how to live and worship but its about so much more than just laws.

2. Why do you not advocate the passing away of the Old Testament Law?

Contrary to popular opinion, the Old Testament Law (Torah) was not superceeded or abolished by the Gospel.

The early believers continued to practice the commandments of the Torah throughout the New Testament period and beyond. It is for this that they were thrown to the lions.

The Torah was never given as a means for attaining salvation. Instead the laws of the Torah are given to be upon our hearts. We are to show our love for God by keeping them (Deuteronomy 6:4–6). The Torah is profitable “for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

Yeshua warned us not to think that He had come to abolish the Torah (Matthew 5:17). He said that “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven (ditto)” (Matthew 5:19).

This does not mean that we must do the Torah in order to earn salvation. Ephesians 2:8–9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” We do not keep the Torah in order to be saved, we keep it because we are saved. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in the Messiah Yeshua for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

[We were redeemed only from the 'curse' of the broken law - we were never redeemed from the Law of God- Torah is a way OF life and not a way TO life. Ed.]

3. What about Paul and Galatians?

We live in a day when the vast and overwhelming majority of Christians of all denominations do not keep any of the particulars of Torah (such as Sabbath, festivals, dietary laws, etc.).

Therefore, when we read Paul’s letters, translated by men who were already becoming increasingly anti-Semetic post 325 a.d., his arguments often seem to be anti-Jewish and anti-Torah— and in line with the sentiment of modern Christianity.

But Paul did not live in our day. He never knew modern Christianity or even the Christianity of the second-century Church Fathers. In Paul’s day, believers were part of the larger Jewish community. The seventh-day Sabbath was still the regular day of worship. The believers were still meeting in the synagogues. “For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath” (Acts 15:21). From Paul’s perspective, all believers were naturally keeping Torah already in the greater context of their faith and practice. Galatians and all of Paul’s writings must be understood in this larger Torah context.

The Apostle Paul found himself in a long-term argument with other Jewish believers over the position of non-Jews in the Kingdom of Heaven. His opponents asserted that before a Gentile could be saved, he must first be circumcised (which in Paul’s day meant a conversion to Judaism) and keep the whole Torah of Moses (Acts 15:5).For Paul, it was redundant for a Gentile believer to become circumcised as part of a conversion to Judaism. It was an affront to Messiah because it implied that faith in Him was not adequate to secure a position in the covenant with Israel. It was a denial of the Gospel. Paul said, “If you let yourselves be circumcised [that is, undergo a formal conversion into Judaism as a necessary component of your salvation], Messiah will be of no value to you at all” (Galatians 5:2). Messiah is of no value because the convert has opted to accomplish his participation in Israel through his own physical efforts. To Paul’s way of thinking, ritual conversion after salvation was like campaigning for an office for which one had already been elected.

In Galatians, Paul responded to his opponents’ teaching by forbidding the Galatians to convert to become Jewish (i.e. circumcise). In the case of Gentiles with Jewish heritage, however, Paul did not hesitate to circumcise because it did not imply a conversion. In fact, he personally oversaw Timothy’s circumcision. Gentiles like Titus or the Galatians he encouraged to remain uncircumcised so long as circumcision was misunderstood as the ticket into the Kingdom.

When read outside of this perspective, though, we often misunderstand Paul completely. When we forget that he was arguing against requiring Gentiles to be circumcised in order to merit salvation, we assume that he was arguing against keeping Torah. But he was only arguing that Torah and circumcision could not be regarded as prerequisites for salvation. Ephesians 2:8–9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

4. Didn’t God Nail the Torah to the Cross?

In one of his oft misunderstood passages, the Apostle Paul speaks of a written document of condemnation that is nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14).

This document is frequently misinterpreted as the Torah. Well meaning brothers and sisters often triumphantly declare that Messiah nailed the Torah to cross. (God forbid.) Translations like the NIV encourage this kind of interpretation by translating the document nailed as “the written code,” a term that seems to imply a law code, namely the Torah.

In Colossians 2:14, it is not the Torah that has been nailed to the cross. It is a written verdict of condemnation, like the type delivered by a Roman court of law.

Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of debt against us, which was hostile to us; He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Colossians 2:14)

The “certificate of debt” that has been taken out of the way and nailed to the cross is condemnation. Condemnation (i.e. death) is the ultimate curse of the Torah. It is this curse that Messiah took upon Himself when He became “a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).

5. Isn’t Christ the End of the Law?

People often misunderstand Romans 10:4 to mean that Christ ended the Torah.

In the Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul said, “Messiah is the end of the Torah,” (Romans 10:4), and in his epistle to the Galatians he wrote, “The Torah was put in charge to lead us to Messiah.” (Galatians 3:24). In this sense, Messiah is the goal of the Torah. He is the destination at which the journey of Torah arrives. Is Messiah to be understood as the ending of the Torah then? No. He is the end, but not the ending. The Greek word used for “end” in Romans 10:4 implies that He is the goal of the Torah but not the termination of it. In fact, He Himself has said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Torah …” (Matthew 5:17).

In what sense is Yeshua the goal and “ending” of the Torah? He lived a perfectly righteous and sinless life. He perfectly lived out the Torah. Therefore, He is the end for which the Torah aimed.

6. Where do Jewish believers stand?

We believe that Jews are still the unique, chosen people of God. We reject the idea that Israel has been replaced by the Church.

For thousands of years, God has preserved the identity of the Jewish people. As Paul says, “What advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect!” (Romans 3:1–2) Like First Fruits of Zion, we teach the unity of Jew and Gentile in Messiah. We assert that Gentile believers are grafted into Israel as Paul says in Romans 11, forming “one new man” (Ephesians 2:15) and that in Messiah, “there is neither Jew nor Greek.” (Galatians 3:28) However, none of that diminishes the unique and precious distinction of ethnic/halachic Jewish identity.

We must remember to preserve and cherish the unique place of ethnic Jews among us and be wary of doing anything that might displace their unique, historic connection with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. While it is true that Paul said “there is neither Jew nor Greek,” he also said in the same verse, “there is neither male nor female.” Obviously he did not mean that we should obliterate the lines of distinction between genders. Neither then should we obliterate the lines of distinction between Jew and Gentile.

The Bible fully obligates Jews to keep the Torah. Acts 21:20–25 makes it clear that the Apostles expected Jewish believers to remain steadfast in Torah after coming to faith in Messiah. We encourage Jewish believers to demonstrate their Jewishness through faithful observance of God’s commandments.

7. Is the Torah for Gentiles?

The Prophets testify of a coming Messianic age when all nations will learn Torah (Isaiah 2:2–3) and keep the appointed times of the Torah like the Sabbath (Isaiah 66:23) and festivals (Zechariah 14:16–17).

Torah observance is a component of discipleship. Yeshua was completely Torah observant. If the Gentile believer desires to imitate Yeshua, Torah observance would be a large part of that. Yeshua commanded His disciples to “make disciples of all the nations … teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). Among the commandments of Yeshua is the commandment to uphold and practice the laws of Torah (Matthew 5:17–19).

However, the Apostles never explicitly demanded full Torah observance from the Gentile believers. In Acts 15, where the Apostles debated the question of Gentile relationship to Torah, they decided to require four basic minimum standards for fellowship while Gentiles learn Torah within the synagogues. This ruling, at the very least, places Gentiles on a trajectory toward Torah observance.

8. What is “Kosher” and the biblical diet?

The concept of clean and unclean foods was known and practiced long before the Law was given at Sinai, as was the concept of giving tithes and the practice of cutting blood covenants. Sinai simply formalised these components for use in corporate religious life and service. Therefore the arguement that Christians are exempt from any dietry laws due to their inclusion in the Torah - has no foundation.

God commands His people regarding what they are to eat but these instructions were simply a formalised version of what was already known and handed down through Adam.

Specifically, this was already recognised by Noah who, contrary to what we all learned in sunday school, preserved the unclean animals two by two but the clean animals 7 by 7. See Genesis 7:1-3. You can be sure that when Abraham, 450 years before the giving of the Law, fed and entertained his heavenly visitors who subsequently pronounced that Sarah would at last bear a child, it was not a pork roast.

God forbids them to eat certain animals (Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14), blood and meat not properly bled (Leviticus 17:11–12, Deuteronomy 12:15–16, Acts 15:20), and food contaminated by idols (Exodus 34:15, Acts 15:19–20).

These laws constitute the biblical dietary regulations. (For food to be regarded as “kosher” (proper) by traditional Jewish standards, meat and dairy must also be kept separate (derived from passages such as Deuteronomy 14:21) and the meat must be slaughtered under rabbinic supervision. Some Torah practicing believers do keep rabbinic standards for dietary laws; others do not agree with the rabbinic interpretations.)

Despite contemporary teaching, the biblical food laws were never rescinded in the New Testament - after all, has man's digestive system changed? No, neither Gods laws concerning what constitutes food nor man's digestive system has changed.

Another very popular misconception is that Peter in Acts 10 was told by God not to follow a kosher diet any longer yet when he refered to the vision later on he said that he now saw clearly that God was not refering to unclean foods but rather to the acceptance of unclean people - particularly believing gentiles. At that time the early church was completely Jewish so to have table fellowship with non Jews was a huge change. See Acts 10: 28-29.

Its a serious matter to infer that God has witheld from us food that is actually nutritious or otherwise beneficial - sound a lot like the serpent speak of Genesis 3?

9. Who is Yeshua?

There is no letter 'J' in the Hebrew alpahabet.

This should be cause for alarm since Yeshua is the Living Word and the scriptural injunction is specifically NOT to add to or take away from the Word of God - under warning of penalty. See both Proverbs 30:6 and Revelation 22:18.

'Jesus' is the name added / given by the later Christian religious community, it is also not a transliteration of any hebrew word or name - its since become His Anglisized Gentile Name and as such, only arose around around the 16th century.

Yeshua however, is the actual Hebrew name of the Son of God. The Apostles testify that Yeshua of Nazareth is the promised Davidic Messiah, the Son of God, the “Word made flesh” (John 1:14), “in whom the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9).

Don't you like to be refered to by your given name?