Jewish tradition believes that God has fundamental, universal requirements for the entire human race and specific, detailed requirements for the Jewish people. This would be in keeping with the opening chapters of the book of Amos, where the surrounding nations are rebuked by the Lord for sins of man against man—such as covenant breaking and cruelty—but the people of Israel and Judah are rebuked for violating the Torah of the Lord (beginning in Amos 2:4).
Since Genesis 9:1–7 contains the Lord’s instructions to Noah and his family after the flood, the rabbis found here seven fundamental laws for the human race. As stated in the Talmud: “Our Rabbis taught: seven precepts were the sons of Noah commanded: social laws [meaning, the establishing of government and courts of justice]; to refrain from blasphemy, idolatry, adultery, bloodshed, robbery, and eating flesh cut from a living animal” (b. Sanhedrin 56a. The discussion continues into 56b, with other rabbis presenting slightly modified lists; for other Talmudic references to these Seven Noachide Laws, see b. Avodah Zarah 2a).
As explained in a footnote to the Soncino Talmud:
These commandments may be regarded as the foundations of all human and moral progress. Judaism has both a national and a universal outlook in life. In the former sense it is particularistic, setting up a people distinct and separate from others by its peculiar religious law. But in the latter, it recognises that moral progress and its concomitant Divine love and approval are the privilege and obligation of all mankind. And hence the Talmud lays down the seven Noachian precepts, by the observance of which all mankind may attain spiritual perfection, and without which moral death must inevitably ensue. That perhaps is the idea underlying the assertion . . . that a heathen is liable to death for the neglect of any of these. The last mentioned is particularly instructive as showing the great importance attached to the humane treatment of animals; so much so, that it is declared to be fundamental to human righteousness.[88]
Now, if you take a moment and read the verses in Genesis 9, you might scratch your head and wonder how the ancient rabbis found seven commandments here, since the text seems only to prohibit murder and the eating of meat with blood. Well, the rabbis were experts in reading their traditions back into the Scriptures, often seeing multiple layers of meaning in the Torah text and believing that every divine command that was included in the Oral Law (see #3)—with the rarest of exceptions—could be tied in to some verse or phrase or word or unusual spelling phenomenon in the biblical text. In fact, many Talmudic discussions are devoted to this very subject, namely, how to find support for traditional practices in the Scriptures. This makes for some ingenious arguments.
In any case, regardless of the origin of these commandments, it is clear that by New Testament times, there were God-fearing Gentiles who attended the synagogues and worshiped the God of Israel and were expected to live by these basic requirements, without converting to Judaism. The book of Acts mentions them on several occasions (see 8:27; 10:2, 22; 13:26, 50; 17:4, 17), and in a number of cities, the first Gentiles to hear and believe the Good News about Jesus the Messiah were these God-fearers: “Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women” (Acts 17:4). This message was good news indeed, as Paul explained to the Ephesians that “through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in [Messiah] Jesus” (Ephesians 3:6). So, the Gentiles became spiritual equals to the Jews without having to become Jews (see #54).
This, however, was troubling to some of the Jewish believers, who insisted that full membership in God’s household required circumcision and full submission to the Torah, teaching that “the Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5; Paul’s letter to the Galatians had to confront this teaching head-on). To the contrary, Peter stated that “No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are” (verse 11), and the final apostolic verdict was simply this: “We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood” (verses 19–20; see further, #48). These requirements appear to parallel closely some of the seven Noachide laws, but they may simply reflect practical realities: If we are to live together and work together as believing Jews and Gentiles, at least these fundamentals must be practiced.
This does, however, shed light on the letters to the Gentile congregations in the New Testament: Paul teaches these believers the most fundamental things, such as moral purity, relational purity, work ethics and family ethics, since he does not assume that they knew these things before. On the other hand, he does not tell them, “Submit yourselves to the Torah!” As Gentiles, they were not required to do so, and as believers in Jesus who had entered the reality of the age to come—just like their fellow Jewish believers—they stood in an entirely different relationship to the Torah (see #48).
Returning, however, to the question at hand, today there is a growing Noachide movement, sometimes called the B’nei Noah (“sons of Noah”). This movement consists of Gentiles who find Judaism beautiful and attractive but who choose not to convert to Judaism, and many of these Gentiles were former Christians who, for a number of reasons, including the mistaken belief that Trinitarian beliefs are idolatrous, have renounced their Christian faith.[89]
Yet there’s more to the story. One of the leaders in this Noachide movement is Dr. Vendyl Jones, who has been searching for the Ark of the Covenant for decades, and who claimed to be the inspiration behind the Indiana Jones movie series. This claim, however, was denied by both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.[90]
The only Jewish group actively involved in spreading the Seven Laws of Noah to the Gentile world—and in a fairly minor way at that—is the Hasidic sect called Lubavitch (see #2), the primary Jewish group active in missionary work to bring nonreligious Jews into traditional observance. This, then, is in keeping with their missionary emphasis, and just as they call Jews to follow the rabbinic traditions, they call on Gentiles to follow the so-called Seven Laws of Noah.
A number of books have been written about the Noachide movement in recent years. See Chaim Clorfene and Yaakov Rogalsky, The Path of the Righteous Gentile: An Introduction to the Seven Laws of the Children of Noah (New York: Philip Feldheim, 1987); Kimberly E. Hanke, Turning to Torah: The Emerging Noachide Movement (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1995); Rabbi Yirmeyahu Bindman, Seven Colors of the Rainbow (New York: Philip Feldheim, 2000); Michael Ellias Dallen, The Rainbow Covenant: Torah and the Seven Universal Laws (Springdale, AR: Lightcatcher Books, 2003).[91]