Subject: New Perspective of Sha'ul |
Bible Note: Anne, my sister, I feel that you have misunderstood me. I do not propose that the Torah is a means unto salvation, for none can be saved by it. Indeed, it points us to our natural sinful state. That said, you can still follow Torah and be under the Law of the Spirit of Life, for it is by faith that we are saved and not Torah. Y'shua, Himself, stated that if we love Him we will obey his mitzvot (John 14:15,21,24). Now, Y'shua is the WORD, right? What does the WORD contain? Look to the first five books of the Bible. The Torah. Now if the Torah is abolished, then part of the WORD is abolished. Please think about this. Secondly, I do not say that I follow Judaism. I feel more of an affinity for it than historic Christianity, but I am in line with Christianity because I accept Y'shua as the Messiah. The actual split between Judaism and Historic Christianity came about 90A.D. when the Romans were persecuting the Jews and Gentile Christians used it as an excuse to separate from the "silly nonsense" of the Jewish ways. Not before. There was always a persecution of the Christians by the Jews, but that was not the cause of the split. Even at the time of the split, there were those that were caught in the middle because they wanted to keep on doing what Y'shua commanded them. These people were known as "The Way", for Y'shua is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. One of the early church fathers, St.Augustine, was a critical mover and shaker. He was a neo-platonist and had been involved in the Manichaean heresy. Also, there was Constantine, who, having no knowledge of Scriptures at all, decided upon a great deal of the Church doctrine. He did this to make Christianity more acceptable to the pagan public. At the later times the followers of "The Way" were a very small minority due to persecution by the Christians, Jews, and Moslems. It was during the Reformation that these people started booming again as people came to see the Scriptures for themselves and not be told "Church Tradition". One of the best people to cite, that was born just after this time, would be Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein, who although a Jew, could see the difference between Historical Christianity and the road that the Apostles took. Thirdly, Sha'ul did not just pick and choose rituals. They were inigrained in him, as he was taught by the great Rabban Gamaliel himself. All the way through Acts and in fact, all his other epistles, show that he was observant of the Torah that was given to all people. And again, he did not do this unto salvation, but because of his love for Y'shua. A point should be made here that he did not follow rituals, but mitzvot (commandments). He several times states that he follows the Torah in Romans and when he does speak against it, he usually means the legalistic observances and oral law. Fourthly, there was a sect that numbered a fair few that were known as the Judaizers. Do you know what it is to Judaize? To insist upon circumcision as the means unto salvation, not as is commonly taught, the following of the Torah. There was also the Legalistic sect that insisted that the following of the Torah was the means unto salvation, something that I do not condone. Most Jews knew already that they were saved by faith and not through works. It was really only these sects that had the problem with Gentiles. For the Fifth point, AMEN! Through repentance and faith that leads to obedience! The Sixth point is that yes, He did come to complete the Torah and Prophets, not to abolish them. Indeed, Matthew 5:17-20 is one of my favourite verses. Since Heaven and Earth have not yet passed away and everything that must happen, has not yet happened, Torah still stands. As to Ephesians 2, it most certainly does not contradict anything that I have said. Indeed we are grafted into the commonwealth of Isra'el and again, this only comes through the shedding of the Mashiach's blood. Seventh point, Our righteousness is greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P'ruchim. Why? Because Y'shua has made us clean and righteous, we who were unworthy of such a free gift of love so divine. It is not by following the Torah unto salvation and the giving a yoke of oral laws that will weigh us down. Lastly, "But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well". Yes, but what has He been talking about in this paragraph (v.31-34). We must understand that we are not to think in dualism; earthly, heavenly; carnal, spiritual; etc. In the end we must find His righteousness, which leads to loving Him, which leads to obeying His Mitzvot, which leads to the Torah. I know that this is kind of long-winded, but I wanted to straighten a couple of things out. In the end, I do not say that you must follow the Torah, I can only tell you what I must do personally. I love Him, and so, I will do His bidding. Yours in Y'shua HaMashiach, Talmid |