It’s been a while since I was here…I was surprised to see this debate going on so long, and so pointlessly.
It is said that people that are persuaded against their own opinion are of the same opinion still. For seven months you have been arguing what commandments apply to Christians, firmly disavowing all that was given in the Sinai Covenant, and the covenants before them, while grasping on to the ‘New’ Covenant, that isn’t yet in force, and indeed, was never promised to anyone but the Israelites.
We Gentiles are only promised a blessing in Abraham, and have received it though his Seed, Yeshua. As Sha’ul said,
16 Now if the challah offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole loaf. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you — a wild olive — were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the olive tree,
18 then don’t boast as if you were better than the branches! However, if you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, the root is supporting you.
19 So you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
20 True, but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of trust. However, you keep your place only because of your trust. So don’t be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified!
21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly won’t spare you!
22 So take a good look at God’s kindness and his severity: on the one hand, severity toward those who fell off; but, on the other hand, God’s kindness toward you — provided you maintain yourself in that kindness! Otherwise, you too will be cut off! Romans 11:16-22 (CJB)
The Olive Tree is the symbol of Israel, and being grafted into her, we become Israelites after the spirit, because of our salvation in Yeshua, but even so, the New Covenant will not be in effect until Yeshua comes, and we that believe in him are made Incorrupt, with all of Torah written inside of us. Until that time, only our faith and the actions we take based on that faith in conjunction with the help of the Ruach haKodesh keep us in Yeshua, and that if we do not attempt to grow, and bear fruit, we will be broken back off of the Olive Tree, and thrown into the fire.
13 However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say this: since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles, I make known the importance of my work
14 in the hope that somehow I may provoke some of my own people to jealousy and save some of them!
15 For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? It will be life from the dead!
16 Now if the challah offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole loaf. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you — a wild olive — were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the olive tree,
18 then don’t boast as if you were better than the branches! However, if you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, the root is supporting you.
19 So you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
20 True, but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of trust. However, you keep your place only because of your trust…So don’t be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified!
21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly won’t spare you!
22 So take a good look at God’s kindness and his severity: on the one hand, severity toward those who fell off; but, on the other hand, God’s kindness toward you — provided you maintain yourself in that kindness! Otherwise, you too will be cut off!
23 Moreover, the others, if they do not persist in their lack of trust, will be grafted in; because God is able to graft them back in.
24 For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree!
25 For, brothers, I want you to understand this truth which God formerly concealed but has now revealed, so that you won’t imagine you know more than you actually do. It is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Isra’el, until the Gentile world enters in its fullness;
26 and that it is in this way that all Isra’el will be saved.As the Tanakh says, “Out of Tziyon will come the Redeemer; he will turn away ungodliness from Ya‘akov
27 and this will be my covenant with them,... when I take away their sins.”
28 With respect to the Good News they are hated for your sake. But with respect to being chosen they are loved for the Patriarchs’ sake,
29 for God’s free gifts and his calling are irrevocable.
30 Just as you yourselves were disobedient to God before but have received mercy now because of Isra’el’s disobedience;
31 so also Isra’el has been disobedient now, so that by your showing them the same mercy that God has shown you, they too may now receive God’s mercy.
32 For God has shut up all mankind together in disobedience, in order that he might show mercy to all. Romans 11:13-32 (CJB)
The law of love and the law of liberty have been much spoken of on this thread, but no one seems to be at all concerned with what kind of difference our love for G-d, and for each other are supposed to make in us, and for that matter in the Jews that were the first to receive Yeshua as Mashiach, and be filled with the ‘earnest deposit’ of the Ruach ha Kodesh.
The New Covenant that we wait for in such impatience will write all of Torah on the Believer’s heart…Jew or Gentile, because we are to rule and reign with Yeshua, and be always with him. There will be no difference between us…the wall of partition will be completely down, and there will be nothing left to fight over, for we will all know the Torah as Yeshua gives it.
The New Covenant is not a change in the commandments that G-d has given to Man through the Jews, but how we are enabled to keep them. The Jews fight against the heavy burden of the Torah, but they at least try…those that are Jews that are in Mashiach…Messianic Jews, just as I am a Messianic Gentile. Most Christians of Protestant denominations avoid the commandments of the Torah like the plague, and rest only in the grace of G-d through Yeshua, and their walk of faith according to what is taught in the Brit Chadashah. That's fine for salvation, but not much for blessings now, or future reward.
Yeshua said, ” Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete.
18 Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah — not until everything that must happen has happened.
19 So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P’rushim, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” Matthew 5:17-20 (CJB)
Please note that it says “until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah — not until everything that must happen has happened. “ That means until after the Millennium, when Yeshua turns the Kingdom back to YHVH, and the earth and heavens are destroyed, and a new heaven and earth given us.
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had passed away, and the sea was no longer there.
2 Also I saw the holy city, New Yerushalayim, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “See! God’s Sh’khinah is with mankind, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and he himself, God-with-them, will be their God. Revelation 21:1-3 (CJB)
Now, someone may say correctly that Gentiles are not obligated to keep or observe Torah. Salvation for Jew or Gentile is only through Yeshua, and has nothing to do with the Torah. Keeping any of the commandments while a Gentile or a Jew according to the manmade Laws of the Pharisees (Currently called Orthodox Jews) is not necessary for our salvation, and the grace we receive in Yeshua. But that is not why Believers of any church or synagogue should keep those commandments in the Torah to the extent they are able to do so.
We are to be in obedience to the extent of our understanding and ability to G-d, and to Yeshua both. Loving G-d is expressed quite clearly in the first 4 commandments given at Sinai, as our love for one another is defined in the next 6 of the remainder of the commandments given at Sinai, which describes moral law.
Loving Yeshua leads us to go farther than ever any non-believing Jew did before Yeshua…to do not only the outward semblance of obedience to Torah, but to keep the heart of the Torah. To not only refrain from killing, but to refrain from hating, and to not merely refrain from adultery in action, but in deed, and to not steal, but not look longingly another’s belongings, or envy them their good fortune.
We certainly are to be all that Yeshua told us to do…to be as much like him as we can, for love of him. This is what Discipleship is…making oneself over into an accurate copy of the one we love. Yeshua was a Jew, and I was born a Gentile, but that does not keep me from thinking that to honor the Father, I should remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy, because G-d so much delights in it when we do so; it is what Yeshua did himself; and it is what we will be doing in the Kingdom of G-d…all the way until the world is remade, and G-d comes to rule us Himself.
The directions for the Sabbath are to do no laborious or creative work, to stay home, and have a holy convocation…with your family and friends. All the rest of the rules about the Sabbath were made up to keep Jews from inadvertently breaking the Sabbath in the times when it would have gotten someone stoned to death, and alas, they are tied up in knots in their rules and legalism because it is the way they stayed a separate people from AD 70 onwards.
There are other laws we should keep that we will keep in future, but they are not mandatory now for Gentiles. However, Yeshua isn’t about what is mandatory, but what you will give him of your own choice and free will for love of him.
The Moedim, the G-d appointed feast days of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot will be mandatory in the Kingdom for the entire world to keep, even non-believers, and on penalty of lack of rain to water their crops. Why then do we not for love keep them now? And eating clean foods over unclean foods…one of my friends nearly died from eating some fully cooked ham when he was infested with massive tapeworms, and frankly, though I miss bacon, I can do without it, yet if I find some bacon was in my pea-soup, I don’t freak out either, because G-d does know what I am attempting to do outside of any community of like believers, and that I do it only for Him.
Many on this thread have been saying a lot about love being the motivating force for obedience to what is written in Scripture, Old and New Testaments, but then cast aside the first five Books of the Bible like they were some punishment from G-d to attempt to keep, and yet most Believers know that if they do not Tithe, G-d tends to withhold blessings that would automatically be theirs because of their lack of helping others, just as G-d does not bless those who live in sinful ways, or in anger and unforgiveness.
There are reasons to teach and to keep the commandments in the first five Books of the Bible…they determine not our salvation, but our reward in the Kingdom, and G-d's willingness to bless us extraordinarily now. Why? G-d believes in incentives to good behavior, and the better your behavior and character, the more G-d can bless you in this world and use you to His benefit, and to further His purposes.
And so, I do what G-d and Yeshua have instructed to the best of my ability, based on the plain descriptions in the Scriptures, and no more. I sincerely believe that every Believer should voluntarily do all that G-d desires as it is written in the Scripture, and I pray that you will consider this as you walk towards the Day of the Lord…it’s getting very evident that time is getting short.