THE RABBIS HAVE PLACED THEIR FAITH IN KEEPING THE LAW OF MOSES

Former rabbis had believed that the Messiah would bring in a new set of laws to replace the Mosaic laws. We find a number of indications of this in the Talmud, compiled around 550 AD. Jewish commentator Raphael Patai had written:

·       The notion that the days of the messiah, the messiah’s apocalyptic reign, will be served by a new law is a Jewish one. Paul is quite Jewish in seeking to extend his new, more accessible, religion to Gentiles in the interest of time as did some of his contemporaries among the rabbis. In his essay, “The Crisis of Tradition in Jewish Messianism,” G. Scholem reviews the most important rabbinic statements that look forward to a utopian messianic age governed by a new, relaxed law:

·       Lev. Rabbah 9:7 - All sacrifices will be abolished except for the offer of thanksgiving.

·       Yalkut and Midrash Mishle (on Prov. 9:2) - All festivals will be abolished except for Purim which will never be abolished (and the Day of Atonement will be like Purim)

·       Midrash Tehillim (in regard to Ps. 146:7) - The Lord allows the forbidden … and will one day allow the eating of all animals now forbidden to be eaten … In the time to come he will allow everything that he has forbidden.

·       Lev. Rabbah 13:3 - A new Torah [law or teaching] shall go forth from me.

·       Yalkut (in regard to Isa 26:2) - the messiah himself will teach it  (The Jewish Messiahs, Harris Lenowitz, page 270ff)

·       Eccl. Rabbah 11:1 - R Hizqiya in the name of R. Simon bar Zibdi said: “The whole Tora which you learn in This World is vanity as against the Tora of the World to Come. For in This World a man learns Tora and forgets, but in the Future to Come (he will not forget) as it is written, I will put My Tora in their inward parts and in their heart will I write it (Jer. 31:33) (The Messiah Texts, Raphael Patai, pages 247-257)

However, modern day rabbis have gravitated to a different view – that the Mosaic Laws are eternally binding. The Jewish Encyclopedia's "New Testament" article states:

·       "The idea of the new covenant is based chiefly upon Jeremiah 31:31–34. That the prophet's words do not imply an abrogation of the Law is evidenced by his emphatic declaration of the immutability of the covenant with Israel (Jeremiah 31:35–36; comp. 33:25); he obviously looked for a renewal of the Law through a regeneration of the hearts of the people."

(Please note that Jeremiah 31:35-36 and 33:35 say nothing about the continuation of the Mosaic Covenant!)

Elsewhere, The Jewish Encyclopedia reads:

·       Judaism knows of no other than the old Sinaitic [Mosaic] covenant. Eternal as the covenant with heaven and earth is God's covenant with the seed of Jacob (Jer. xxxiii. 25 et seq.). http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4714-covenant

However, Scripture reveals that the Mosaic Covenant would be unable to deliver what the Messiah and His New Covenant were finally able to provide. When we examine Messianic prophecy, we find that Israel’s blessedness was not to be found in their adherence to the Mosaic Law but in their Messiah. The following are verses that the rabbis had also regarded as Messianic:

·       The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified…you shall be called the priests of the LORD; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy. (Isaiah 61:1-7; ESV)

In what state do we find Israel prior to the Messiah’s return? One of shame and dishonor! It would be the Messiah, and not Mosaic Law keeping, that would “bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” Instead of exalting Israel, the Mosaic Law would evidently afflict Israel through their failure to keep it.

Elsewhere, Isaiah prophesies that the Messiah will bring justice, not the Mosaic Law:

·       Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations… “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. (Isaiah 42:1-7)

The Messiah will also be the covenant and the light, which the Mosaic Covenant (MC) could not provide. He would open blind eyes and release those in bondage. Clearly, the MC would fail to do this.

·       The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. (Isaiah 52:8-10)

At the time of the Messiah’s return, there will be “waste places of Jerusalem.” Why would this be if Israel’s adherence to the MC had been adequate? Evidently, it wouldn’t be. Instead, Israel’s hope would have to be in the Messiah and not in their ability to keep the MC.

Who is “his holy arm?” Isaiah tells us:

·       Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:1-4)

Why would the Messiah have to carry “our sorrows” if the MC had been adequate? Instead, the Messiah, the one who would bear Israel’s sins, would ultimately be their hope.

The Messiah’s return will mean comfort for the afflicted and a worldwide awakening:

·       The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations. (Psalm 22:26-28 [This Psalm might not have been considered Messianic by the rabbis]; also see Psalm 2, 40, 69)

Salvation wouldn’t come through the MC and Israel’s obedience. Instead, as so many prophecies indicate, it would come through the Messiah:

·       Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey…and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit…On that day the LORD their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land. (Zechariah 9:9-16)

The MC would not bring salvation, but death, because of Israel’s disobedience:

·       Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return. I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turns to his own course. (Jeremiah 8:5-6; 5:3; Isaiah 1:3-4; 9:3; 64:7; 65:2-3; 66:4; Hosea 4:6; 7:10)

Instead of bringing glory to God, Israel under the MC would profane Him. This is why a New Covenant was necessary. Besides, the MC governed by fear. Israel had been terrified to hear God’s voice and dared not to come into His presence lest they be struck dead.

Why weren’t the rabbis willing to see that the MC brought Israel under the curse of God?

·       “But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you…” (Deuteronomy 28:15)

Why don’t the rabbis see that an eternal MC offered them no hope and no blessedness? Why would they put their hope in their ability to keep the Law? Why do the rabbis reject the New Covenant and its promised blessedness through an intimate love-relationship with their Savior, something they could never enjoy under the MC?

·       And I will make for them a covenant…And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. (Hosea 2:18-20)

Sadly, my Jewish people have hardened their heart against their God, and, by doing so, they have also hardened their heart against wisdom, plunging themselves headlong into the darkness (John 3:19-21).

IF WE ARE NO LONGER UNDER THE LAW OF MOSES, DO WE NEED TO OBEY IT?

Are we to obey the Law of Moses? From one perspective, the answer would seem to be “no,” since we are no longer under the Law:

·       For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 10:4; ESV)

However, even though we are no longer under the Law, this does not settle the question. Why not? For one thing, the New Testament often quotes from the Law as if it is still normative for us. Here is just one small example:

·       Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. (2 Corinthians 13:1; referencing Deuteronomy 19:15)

Besides, the New Covenant does not legalize crimes like murder and adultery. In fact, it seems that the teachings of Jesus embody much of the wisdom of the Mosaic Covenant like:

·       But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:28)

We therefore are left perplexed. It seems that we are no longer under the Law but it also seems that we still have to obey it. And this perplexity is not new. Manfred T. Brauch, formerly a professor of biblical theology, had commented of Romans 10:4:

·       This radical word about Christ as the end of the law—and similar expressions in other letters of Paul—have been the object of intense discussion throughout the history of the church. (“Hard Sayings of Paul,” IVP, 1989, 56)

Brauch is correct. Paul had often taught that we are no longer under the Law. Here are just a few references:

·       For he himself is our peace…abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace. (Ephesians 2:14-15)

·       But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:6)

·       And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)

However, Paul wasn’t alone in insisting that the Law had come to an end. James also suggested that we are now under a new regime, the “law of liberty”:

·       For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. (James 2:10-12; also see Hebrews 8:13)

Although James was not as direct as Paul in declaring the Law null and void, he suggested that we are no longer under the Mosaic Law. Jesus was even more cryptic about this:

·       “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17-18)

When was the Law “fulfilled” and “accomplished?” When Jesus proclaimed “It is finished” on the Cross” and the veil, which had separated us from the symbolic presence of God within the Holy of Holies was torn in two indicating that God’s plan had been accomplished. The way had been opened for us to boldly come into the presence of God.

Jesus had been secretly preparing for this moment all along:

·       And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) (Mark 7:18-19)  

In contrast, under the Mosaic Law, certain foods and external contacts would make us unclean. However, Jesus revealed that these laws were only symbolic and, therefore, temporary. Consequently, Mark commented, “Thus he declared all foods clean.”

Besides, Jesus initiated the New Covenant:

·       And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the [New] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:27-28)

Under the New Covenant, sins would now be utterly eradicated (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Under the Mosaic Law, they had been “forgiven” but not eradicated. Consequently, the consciences of the Israelites had never been cleansed, God had never been propitiated, and the Israelites could not enter into His presence (Hebrews 9:13-15; 10:19-23). This was why Jesus came to initiate the New Covenant in place of the Old, which failed to bring about any real forgiveness and cleansing (Malachi 3:1-3; Hebrews 10:5-10).

Clearly, we are no longer under the Mosaic Covenant. Instead:

·       Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:4)

However, this does not resolve our confusion. It seems that we still must uphold the Mosaic Law:

·       Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. (Romans 3:31)

But why? We are no longer under the Law. Why then uphold it? At this point, we must make a critical distinction. We are no longer under the Law, but many of the stipulations of the Law are eternal, like not murdering, stealing, or bearing false witness. These laws do not suddenly become irrelevant under the New Covenant. However, now we fulfill them in a new way, by the Spirit:

·       For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. (Romans 7:5-6; NASB)

Besides, the new way of following the Lord, we also have been given a new and richer understanding of the Law, illuminated by Jesus:

·       And he [Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

Notice that these two great commandments do not invalidate the teachings of the Old Covenant. Instead, they summarize them. The Law and the Prophets are all about love, and we still need them to educate us about how love is to be expressed. The Prophets of Israel have shown us that love can take many forms, even through denunciations and the severest of warnings. They also teach how to love God:

·       And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

Jesus quoted this against the Devil during His temptation in the desert (Matthew 4:4). According to Jesus, loving God was a matter of living by His every word.

Therefore, the Old Testament remains the Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17), even those highly symbolic passages that had been fulfilled by Jesus. However, since they have been fulfilled, we need not follow them as the Israelites had:

·       Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17)

Since Jesus is the reality which fulfilled the shadows, we should now focus ourselves on Him. However, studying the shadows brings understanding and confidence in the faith.

Brauch suggests that the Mosaic Law taught salvation by good deeds (by obedience to the Law):

·       [Jesus’] coming signals its [the Mosaic Covenant] end with regard to the attainment of righteousness (that is, right relationship with God). (61)

Instead, we find that no one had ever been declared righteous by their obedience to the Law. Abraham had been considered righteous because he had believed God (Genesis 15:6). King David, perhaps Israel’s most obedient king, found blessedness, not through his own attainments but through the mercy of God (Psalm 32, 51).

In contrast with the hope of attaining our own righteousness (Romans 10:3), the entire Mosaic sacrificial system declared that Israel depended upon the mercy of God. King Solomon affirmed this when he consecrated the Temple:

·       “If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near, yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly’”… (1 Kings 8:46-47)

Israel’s blessedness depended upon the mercy of God through faith/repentance, not their meritorious good deeds, as the Psalms repeated proclaim:

·       If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?...O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. (Psalm 130:3, 7-8; 143:2)

God would graciously pay the price (redeem) for all of Israel’s sins. Why? This is the only way that any of us could ever make it into heaven.

Consequently, Israel misunderstood their own Scriptures in believing that they could attain the goal by their own virtue:

·       Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 9:31-33)

Israel refused to recognize their sinful and unworthy state and, therefore, thought that they could attain righteousness through their own efforts. For them, the mercy of God and His Messiah were irrelevant.

However, the main purpose of the Law was to lead to the Messiah rather than to prove that we didn’t need one. How?

·       Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:23-24)

How would the Law lead us to Christ? By showing us our dire need:

·       Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:19-20)

If properly understood, the Law should stop any boasting and show us that we are under condemnation (Deuteronomy 27:26) apart from the mercy of God. To not see this is to sinfully repress the truth (Romans 1:18-20). It is also to reject the one hope that God has made available.

Although we are now under Christ (1 Corinthians 9:20), we have no choice but to respect the Hebrew Scriptures as God’s actual words. Jesus certainly did and quoted from them as if to say, “If Scripture says it, that settles it.” How then do we uphold them? Through the guidance of the New Testament!

MY YEARS IN CHRIST AS A LEGALIST

My first number of years in Christ was as a legalist. I believed in “grace” but also believed that I had to be worthy of it. However, it was becoming apparent to me that I was unworthy. This realization tormented me. I had given myself to the Lord, but I had no assurance that He had given Himself to me, an unworthy sinner.

I therefore sought to make myself worthy of Him. However, the harder I tried, the more it became apparent that I was unworthy. Even if He did save me, I couldn’t help thinking that He didn’t like me very much. Instead, it seemed that He liked others better, since He was blessing them more than He was blessing me.

As result of this thinking, I resented the very ones I was supposed to love. I even secretly resented God but wouldn’t admit it to myself.

This led to utter despair. I was so broken that hope became a rare luxury. However, in the midst of my brokenness, Christ made His grace real to me. I began to see that none of us are worthy. That’s why Christ had to die for me, the Worthy One for the unworthy.

Afterwards, I no longer could tolerate the “do better, try harder sermon,” which had so afflicted me. I just wanted sermons that would tell me that it is all about what Christ had done for me and not what I must do for Him.

However, as I became more confident in God’s grace, I began to see that the Christian life was more than just receiving Christ’s grace. A healthy lake must be stream-fed, but it must also surrender its water. Of first importance, I had to receive grace, but I also had to pass it on, responding obediently to it.

Immediately after affirming grace – “the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21; ESV) – James launched into describing our necessary response to grace:

·       But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (James 1:22-25)

Being “doers of the word” isn’t an option. A true faith is an obedient faith, while a fruitless faith is a faithless faith, an imitation of the real thing. A real faith is a tree that bears good fruit (Matthew 7:17). If we trust in Christ, we will do as He instructs us.

As we grow in our understanding of grace, we become assured that if we confess our sins, He will forgive, cleanse, and readily appoint us a fresh start (1 John 1:9). This gives us assurance and gratefulness so that we can gladly serve Him, not because we fear that He will damn us but because we are confident that He won’t.

However, when we show no interest in being “doers of the Word,” we are deceiving ourselves if we claim that we know the Savior. According to James, a barren faith is a bogus faith:

·       What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17)

Grace doesn’t relieve us of the moral requirements of the law, now called “the perfect law, the law of liberty.” We still mustn’t kill, and we must love our neighbor as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18). Instead, we “uphold the law” (Romans 3:31), but in a new way:

·       You also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code [of the Mosaic Law]. (Romans 7:4-6 )

To not uphold what the law is to damage ourselves and those around us:

·       By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. (James 3:13-16)

We all have such temptations. Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, except without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He didn’t give in to the temptation, and we must not.

Being a “doer of the word” is more than just an indication of a true faith. It is also a source of blessing, as James had written: “He will be blessed in his doing” (1:25, above). We will also suffer if we turn back from the Word.

Grace is the good soil necessary to bring forth the crop. However, good soil without a crop is useless, while a crop without good soil is a fantasy. We were saved and endowed with God’s grace for a reason – “that we may bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4, above).

Consequently, I think that we need those “try harder, do better” sermons, but they all must rest on the solid foundation of knowing the grace of our Lord. Without this foundation, we will be pierced by many discouragements and despair.