Torah Observance for Christians?

[Guest]

Hi John, I've just recently discovered a teacher who believes in Torah observance for Christians. Your information has been helpful. I wonder if you could speak to this:

If one understands Torah observance not as a means to justification before God but as a way to show one's allegaince and love for God once redeemed by grace, what is the theological basis for not observing Torah?

or, to put it another way,

If Torah observance is a sign of the lifestyle and uniqueness of God's people, a "Book of Life," should we not all, Jews and Christians alike, want to, out of our response to and love for God, obey Him in all His commandments?

I am a believing Jesus-follower who is desirous of obeying my Lord. I've only just now, for the first time, thought about the whole role of Torah in our lives. I was raised in the evangelical tradition of "grace over law" but want to understand this further. Your thoughts would be very helpful.

Thanks, John

[admin]

Hi John, I've just recently discovered a teacher who believes in Torah observance for Christians. Your information has been helpful. I wonder if you could speak to this:

If one understands Torah observance not as a means to justification before God but as a way to show one's allegaince and love for God once redeemed by grace, what is the theological basis for not observing Torah? ... <snip>

I apologize but I must make this brief... There is the "lawful use" of the law (1 Tim. 1:8)... The Ten Commandments (and the rest of the Torah of Moses) are just a beginning, sort of an entry point, if you will... our hearts must be broken just as were the tables of stone, and we are given new hearts with a new spirit to please God - no longer as slaves, but as His children.

The genuinely regenerated soul is a "new creation" that inhabits a new realm or "order" of reality (2 Cor. 5:16-17; Gal. 6:15). There is new wine put into new wineskins... Asking a reborn soul to observe the written law is like asking a post graduate student to go back and take kindergarten classes again. You can review the ordinances, rules, customs, and so on, but ultimately this God wants the inward heart. Torah" is something far more than merely the mishpatim, chukkot, and shoftim (laws, decrees, and judgments) revealed in the written Torah of Moses. There is Torat Yeshua, the "yoke" of His teaching that is meant to bring you before the Throne of Grace, before the heavenly Kapporet, etc. The Torah is still valid, of course, but the Source for keeping the inner meaning of the Torah - as well as apprehending its true end - is found in Yeshua, who is the Living Torah....

I hope that helps a little. See more info on the Hebrew for Christians site on "Torah Observance" for detailed information.

Shalom!