Believers today, without exception, are not under the binding authority of the Mosaic Law. This, however, is an overly simplistic answer, so, for the moment, let us make a distinction between Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus, looking first at the question of Gentile Christians and the Law. Then let us ask this question in two different ways: (1) “Must Gentile Christians keep the Law?” If not, then, (2) “Should Gentile Christians keep any part of the Law?” After answering these questions, we’ll return to the issue of Jewish believers and Torah observance.
The answer to the first question, “Must Gentile Christians keep the Law?” is quite simple: Certainly not! Nowhere does the New Testament require Gentile believers to observe the Torah. To the contrary, when the Gentiles first started coming to faith in the book of Acts, some Jewish believers argued, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5). After all, this was a Jewish message about a Jewish Messiah. Wasn’t it necessary, then, for these Gentiles to live like practicing Jews? The emphatic answer from the apostolic community was summed up by Peter: “No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are” (verse 11). Paul’s letter to the Galatians addresses this issue quite forcefully, and he warns the believers there in no uncertain terms: “You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4).
In other contexts, Paul made it clear that believers are not under the supervision of the Law (to bring them to the Messiah; see Galatians 3:23–25); that believers cannot gain righteousness through the Law (see Galatians 2:21); that believers do not receive the Spirit by observing the Law (see Galatians 3:1–5); that believers are not under the Law but rather under grace (see Romans 6:14); and that the circumcision that really counts is a spiritual, internal circumcision (see Philippians 3:2–3; Colossians 2:11–12; see also Romans 2:28–29; 1 Corinthians 7:19; Galatians 6:15). Although scholars have suggested different interpretations for verses such as these—and many more could be cited—the plain sense is quite compelling: Gentile believers are not required to obey the Mosaic law, and for a believer to put himself or herself under the Law is to go backward, not forward (see #47).
That leads us, then, to the second question: “Should Gentile Christians keep any part of the Law?” Let us take a look at Acts 15 again. Jacob (commonly known in English as James; see #42) stated things succinctly:
It is my judgment, therefore, that 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. For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.
verses 19–21
What does this mean? Some have interpreted Jacob’s words to say, “Look. These Gentiles who are coming to faith already attend the synagogues—they are God-fearers who believe in the God of Israel—and they’ll catch on to everything soon enough, since they hear the Torah read every week. So, we’ll make it easy for them to start, and then they’ll embrace the whole Torah in time.”
Such an interpretation, however, goes against many verses in Paul’s letters, some of which have been cited above (and see #47). It also goes against the overall context of Acts 15 where the consensus of Peter, Barnabas, Paul and Jacob was not, “Now that these Gentiles are saved, we need to be sure that they get fully integrated into a Torah-observant life one way or another.” Not surprisingly, the interpretation that Jacob was stating that the Gentiles will quickly learn to follow the entire Torah is rarely found among biblical scholars, many of whom understand Jacob to be saying, “These new Gentile believers will have no trouble understanding the basic requirements we are making of them, since they’ve heard the Torah read many times in the synagogues and are familiar with such things.”
So then, should Gentile Christians observe the moral law while recognizing that the civil law and the ceremonial law applied only to ancient Israel? The problem with this approach is that the Torah does not neatly divide itself into these categories—while useful, it is not self-evident in the Torah itself—and, more importantly, when Paul wrote to the Gentile congregations, he often made reference to the Law, but not in a binding way. So, when he called for morality and purity and holiness, he did not say, “Do what is written in the Law.” Rather, he taught with a different emphasis: “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality. . . . For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 4:3, 7–8).[236]
It is true that in Ephesians 6:1–3, he appealed to the Ten Commandments when teaching the children in Ephesus to obey their parents. Notice, however, that he first says, “for this is right” (Ephesians 6:1), rather than first quoting the Torah text, while in Colossians 3:20 he tells the children to obey their parents “for this pleases the Lord.” Clearly, Paul did not teach the Gentile congregations to obey everything that was written in the Torah, although he could always point to the whole Tanakh as a source of spiritual authority and truth.
But aren’t Gentile believers free to follow whatever biblical commandments they find edifying and helpful, whether those commandments are written in the Torah, the Prophets, the book of Proverbs or the New Testament? Absolutely, as long as: (1) they remember the principles articulated by Paul, cited above, understanding that they cannot increase their spiritual standing by keeping the Law; (2) they do not judge others based on keeping or not keeping certain commandments (see especially Romans 14:1–13; note also Colossians 2:16–19); and (3) they do not get caught up in the nonessentials. The whole thrust of the New Testament is that our life is found in Him—in Jesus, the Son of God. Those who find themselves getting caught up primarily in a Torah identity should spend time meditating on the first chapter of Ephesians, after which a devotional reading of Hebrews would prove useful. (As for the question of Gentile Christians celebrating the Torah’s holy days, see #51.)
Having said all this, there are certain Torah laws that are based on universal principles, laws by which God judged the Canaanites in antiquity (see also #25). These are found most prominently in Leviticus 18, where various sexual unions are forbidden, ranging from incest to bestiality to homosexuality.[237] It can safely be said, then, that if the Lord judged the pagans for certain sins, He certainly will not tolerate those sins among His redeemed people. Similarly, when God rebuked the pagan nations in Amos 1:1–2:5, He rebuked them for violation of His universal moral principles, such as covenant breaking and cruelty, before rebuking Israel more specifically for its violations of the Torah.
In any event, all believers should be encouraged to follow the moral precepts of the Torah—why shouldn’t they?—although, most of these laws are articulated and repeated in the New Testament itself, so that someone living among a people group who had only the New Testament translated into their language would have sufficient understanding of God’s moral, spiritual and purity requirements.
What about Jewish believers in particular? Must they continue to observe the Torah? Again, the answer is no in terms of “must.” As emphasized in #46 and #47, the relationship of all believers to the Torah, Jew and Gentile alike, has changed dramatically with the coming of the Messiah, the instituting of the new covenant and the inbreaking of the new age. To reiterate: We are no longer under the condemnation of the Torah, no longer under the Torah as a schoolmaster to bring us to the Messiah and no longer under the Torah as a system of justification or righteousness. The glory of the Torah has faded in light of the glory of the Messiah, not because the Torah is bad but because the Messiah is better. As a New Testament scholar expressed to me, it is like a typewriter being replaced by a computer.
Should Jewish believers, then, observe the Torah? A good case can be made for this in terms of covenantal responsibility because of the divine election of Israel.[238] That is to say, many Messianic Jews feel called to live in an identifiable way as Jews to help preserve the identity of their people, in keeping with God’s purposes and promises (see Jeremiah 31:35–37). In this way, they also provide an ongoing witness to their people, thereby disproving the notion that Jews who believe in Jesus always assimilate. Seventh-day Sabbath observance, dietary laws and following the biblical calendar are the most common ways in which this is lived out by many Jewish believers.
Still, it must be emphasized that this should only be done to the extent that: (1) God writes it on the individual’s (or congregation’s) heart; (2) it is done in light of New Covenant realities and life in the Spirit, as emphasized above; (3) Yeshua must always be kept central; (4) this is always done out of freedom and not out of bondage; (5) other Jewish believers who do not have this written on their hearts should not be judged; and (6) the rest of the Body should not be judged and that Jewish believers who feel this covenantal calling should not separate themselves from the rest of the Body of Christ.[239]
The testimony of Messianic Jewish liturgist Jeremiah Greenberg, written in the third person, states things well:
After spending the next ten years in the Church, God gave him the “Messianic Vision,” which to him is two-fold. First, if God said that in the End Times Jewish people would come to know the Messiah, then it makes sense that at least some of them would remain visibly, identifiably Jewish as believers, rather than assimilate into other cultures.
Secondly, it is a very powerful witness to our Jewish friends and brethren when we remain identifiably Jewish as believers. Then they can see that we have not changed our religion, but like the Israelite believers in the first century, have received the Messianic fulfillment, Jesus, Yeshua, that is prophesied in Scripture.
To Jeremiah it is a calling. It is not something that everyone should be doing, but rather just those who believe that they are being led in this direction. On the other hand, the Church could still regain a little more respect for her Jewish roots, and recognize, for example, that the Jewish feasts are really BIBLICAL feasts, having spiritual significance for all believers, and pointing continually to the Messiah.
Since then, Jeremiah has remained rooted in the Messianic community, while seeing Jews and non-Jews as EQUALS in the body of Messiah.[240]