The Torah: The Law of Moses

The Torah, also known as the first five books of the Old Testament, plays a crucial role in the faith of both Judaism and Christianity. It contains more than just laws; it tells the story of God’s relationship with Israel, His chosen people. Understanding the Torah is foundational for comprehending God's covenant with Israel and how it connects to the broader biblical narrative. This lesson explores the deeper meaning of the Torah, its role in the life of Israel, and its significance for followers of the God of Israel today.

The people of the book, Israel, and the land of the book, the land of Israel, are integral to the foundation of our faith. Similarly, the scriptures of Israel also form a cornerstone of our belief. The first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah, contain 613 commandments that God gave to the people of Israel. Contrary to a common misconception in Christianity, these commandments were not created by man as an attempt to earn God’s favor or salvation. Instead, they were given by God to a redeemed and saved people who had already recognized the God of Israel as the one true God, worthy of their devotion. The word "Torah" in Hebrew means “teaching” or “instruction,” and these teachings were provided by God to guide Israel in living a holy life.

Various Names for the Torah

The Torah has been called by many names. Sometimes it is referred to as the “Law of Moses,” and other times as “the law.” While the Torah does contain God’s commandments for the Jewish people, it also tells the story of Israel. The Torah is typically said to be penned by Moses:

When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, “Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. (Deuteronomy 31:24, ESV Bible)

Another name for the Torah is the “Book of the Covenant.” In 2 Kings 23:21, King Josiah is overseeing the observance of the Passover feast in Jerusalem and it reads:

And the king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”  (2 Kings 23:21, ESV Bible)

Calling the Torah the “Book of the Covenant” makes perfect sense as it contains the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the covenant with Moses and the people of Israel at Mount Sinai (Abraham - Genesis 17:1-14; Isaac - Genesis 28:13-15; Jacob - Genesis 35:11-12; Moses at Sinai - Exodus 19:3-6).

When we start reading in Genesis, we see right away that the Torah is not completely about laws and rules. It begins with the creation of the heavens and the earth. In Chapter 12, the Torah’s narrative zooms in on one particular group of people, and from then on, it never really zooms back out again. In Chapter 12, we are introduced to Abraham. After that, the rest of the Bible is the story of God’s relationship with Abraham and his descendants, through his grandson Jacob, or Israel. It tells the story of how God called Israel out of Egypt and into the promise land. Before God gave the Jewish people the Torah at Mount Sinai, he said:

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ (Exodus 19:5-6, ESV Bible)

The people of Israel replied:

All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” (Exodus 19:8, ESV Bible)

This is when God gave them the Torah. The prophets compared this to a wedding. God is likened to a groom, and the nation is likened to the bride. The Torah is like the ketubah, or the wedding document that spells out the term of the marriage.

The Torah is Like a Marriage Vow between Israel and God

The Torah is like a marriage vow between God and Israel. Leading up to this “marriage” was Israel’s exile in Egypt. When God says:

I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. (Exodus 6:7, ESV Bible)

Here in Exodus, we see God initiate the relationship. It is as if He is declaring his intentions to enter a covenant with Israel. Why? It returns to His original covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is obligated to uphold His end of those covenants and has a strong affection for these people.

Jewish literature often describes how the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai is like a betrothal (engagement) and a wedding. In Jewish wedding custom, marriage vows are written in a formal legal document called a ketubah. The document spells out all the terms and conditions incumbent upon the bride and groom. The Jewish sages have compared the Torah to a ketubah that spells out the terms and conditions of God’s union with Israel.

The Torah is part of the TANACH or Hebrew Scriptures

The Tanach (TaNaK) is the Hebrew name for the Hebrew Scriptures or what has become the Old Testament in Christianity. The Hebrew Bible is broken down into three sections that are organized according to genre. First is the Torah, which is the five books of Moses. Then there is the Nev’im, which is the prophet’s. Last is the Ketuvim, which is the psalms and writings.

Why is the Hebrew Scriptures called the Old Testament in Christianity? Unfortunately, this observation relates to how Christianity has considered covenants in the Hebrew Scriptures obsolete. The term Old Testament makes the scriptures sound old and irrelevant.

Even the term New Testament is a misnomer. The new covenant is not in the New Testament. The new covenant is the Old Testament, in Jeremiah 31:31. The scriptures that we call the New Testament are really the stories of Jesus and his first followers. The New Testament represents the writings of the apostles and they tell the story of how the Messiah is bringing the new covenant to pass. The New Testament is not meant to replace the Old Testament.

Some prefer to call the Old Testament the Tanach and the New Testament, the apostolic writings. Apostolic writings is essentially what the New Testament represents. It is a collection of the writings of the apostles related to the teaches and life of Yeshua and his disciples and the apostolic journey. The Bible of Jesus and his disciples was the Tanach. But now the writings of the apostles are now part of our scriptures and followers of Jesus.

The Torah is About Aiming for God’s Target

Specifically, the Torah comprises Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Paul refers to the Torah as the law in his epistles. Paul wrote his epistles in Greek and used the Greek word nomos to translate the Hebrew word torah. The word nomos means law, but the Torah is more than just a book of laws. Unfortunately, the Greek translation for torah, nomos, has been interpreted in English as “law.” The Torah indeed contains 613 commandments that the Jewish people have identified. However, the Torah does not mean “law.” More accurately, it means “instruction.” 

The LORD said to Moses,  “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” (Exodus 24:12, ESV Bible)

The Torah is the instruction manual for the Jewish people. Torah originates from the Hebrew verb yarah, which means “to cast, throw, or shoot.” In Hebrew, verbs and nouns are often derived from the same root letters. This same Hebrew root is also used as an archery term, meaning “to take aim or to shoot.” The spirit of the root word is to “hit the mark.” The root idea of “aiming” is carried over to the noun torah and represents God’s aim for us. 

The opposite of torah is chata, which means “to miss the mark.” This word is translated as sin in our Bible. Paul alludes to this idea of missing the mark in Romans 3:23 when he says, “All have sinned and fallen short.” Sin is missing the mark of the Torah. Torah represents the mark for which Israel was to aim. It means God’s standard of righteousness. We sin when we fail to hit that mark. Leviticus 4:2 alludes to sin as doing any things that God has commanded not to do:

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the LORD’s commandments  about things not to be done, and does any one of them, (Leviticus 4:1-2, ESV Bible)

The apostle John even defines the definition of sin in 1 John 3:4:

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. (1 John 3:4, ESV Bible)

Sin is the transgression of the Torah or the transgression of the law. And every human being short of Jesus has fallen short and transgressed the law of God.

The Torah is God’s Instruction

The Hebrew word yarah can also mean “teaching.” Torah also means teaching and instruction. It represents God’s commandments but also is God’s teaching and instruction. Because Torah also means teaching, sometimes in a broader sense, all scripture can be seen as Torah. In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul provides guidance, encouragement, and instructions to Timothy, a leader in the early Christian community. Paul emphasizes the importance of scripture in the life of a believer. Paul writes: 

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16, ESV Bible)

Remember that when Paul says “all scripture,” he talks specifically about the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old Testament. The New Testament had not been fully recognized as scripture and canonized at the time of his writing. As Paul emphasizes in 2 Timothy 3:16, the Torah is teaching for the followers of the God of Israel. The Torah rebukes or reproofs, meaning it provides the conviction of sin. How does it do this? The Torah outlines what sin is: failure to follow God’s commandments. It corrects, setting straight any debate over what is good or correct. It is God’s defined instruction for righteousness. The Torah also trains, raising God’s children in righteousness so they may grow and continue to walk in its ways.

The Torah does not detail every possible situation a person may encounter in life. Still, it does contain a lot of guidance from God for his people. The Torah includes topics on business relations, how to build a home, go to war, get a wife and conduct a marriage, raise a family, etc.

When many rabbis spoke of Torah, they often included all scripture within the word Torah. The Psalms and Prophets are also considered part of the Torah of Israel because they all represent teaching. We see evidence of Paul using the word “law” to describe the Hebrew Scriptures in 1 Corinthians 14:21:

In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 14:21, ESV Bible)

In this passage, we see Paul say, “In the law, it is written,” but he is alluding to a quote from Isaiah 28:11-12:

For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people, to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet they would not hear. (Isaiah 28:11-12, ESV Bible)

Jesus, like Paul, also used the word “law” to refer to a passage not found in the first five books of Moses:

Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? (John 10:34, ESV Bible)

Here we see Jesus quoting from Psalm 82:6, where it says:

I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.” (Psalm 82:6, ESV Bible)

The context of Psalm 82 is a divine rebuke to unjust judges failing in their responsibilities. Jesus uses this reference to highlight that if those in the Old Testament could be called “gods,” how much more fitting is it for him, the Son of God? We also see Jesus do something similar with the word “law” in John 15:25, where he references Psalm 35:19 and Psalm 69:4:

But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ (John 15:25, ESV Bible)

Here we see the quotes from both Psalm 35:19 and Psalm 69:4:

Let not those rejoice over me  who are wrongfully my foes, and let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause. (Psalm 35:19, ESV Bible)

More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies.  What I did not steal must I now restore? (Psalm 69:4, ESV Bible)

The verse from John 15:25 conveys that Jesus faced unjust hatred and persecution without any legitimate reason. Similar to that written by the psalmist.

These passages from John demonstrate that even Jesus referred to other parts of the Hebrew Scriptures as the Torah. And now, since the New Testament has been canonized, believers of Jesus can also view the gospels and the epistles as Torah. The Bible is God’s teaching built upon the Torah of Moses.

In Judaism, the concept of Torah can be taken even further. It can extend to include the teachings of the rabbis. These can consist of the oral traditions (oral law), the Talmud, Mishnah, and other writings of the Jewish scribes. Despite all these alternative definitions of the Torah, most notably, the Torah is the first five books of Moses.

The Torah is Not the Old Covenant

The Torah contains the covenants made with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It also includes the covenant made with Israel at Mount Sinai. It contains covenants made with the house of Aaron. Although the Torah contains covenants, it is not a single covenant. In Ephesians 2:12, Paul discusses the Gentile believer’s relationship with God and the Jewish people. He refers to the covenants in the Torah as the “covenants of promise”:

Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise,  having no hope and without God in the world. (Ephesians 2:12, ESV Bible)

Since the Torah contains many covenants, it is incorrect to consider it the “old covenant.” It is, however, correct to see the laws of the Torah as part of the covenant between God and the Jewish people because when he entered the covenant at Mount Sinai, they agreed to keep His laws:

“While Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD. (Exodus 19:3-8, ESV Bible)

The Torah’s laws are the covenant terms between God and the Jewish people. Jewish people are obligated to observe the laws of the Torah as a matter of covenant fidelity. God’s covenant with Israel is legally binding between Him and His people.

The Torah is part of both the Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant. If the Torah is in the Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant, then it must be important to God. In 2 Corinthians 3:14-15, we see Paul discussing the veil that covers the hearts of those who follow the Mosaic Law without recognizing Jesus as Messiah and the goal of the law:

But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:14-15, ESV Bible)

Being in Messiah removes the veil, the blindness that conceals Messiah, but the Torah remains. It is not canceled or done away with. And when we study the New Covenant, we see that the Torah remains, and God desires to place the Torah within the hearts of Israel instead of on tablets of stone:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.  And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34, ESV Bible)

And to illustrate this further, Hebrews 8:6-13 states:

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them… when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”  In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Hebrews 8:6-13, ESV Bible)

The author of Hebrews says, “If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.” Was the Torah at fault? If so, why would God continue to make it part of the New Covenant? If you read on, the author of Hebrews immediately says, “For he finds fault with them,” meaning fault with Israel. The people were the problem with the Mosaic Covenant. They kept sinning and falling short of God’s expectations. So God sends them Messiah as part of the inauguration of this New Covenant. But do not fail to notice God does not make the Torah obsolete! If Israel cannot follow the Torah on their own accord, God will put the Torah in their minds and hearts. Messiah is the goal of the Torah and the solution for sin. When Israel fails to see this truth, Paul says they have a veil over their eyes and blindness.

The Torah is Part of a Covenant Relationship

In the biblical world, a covenant usually involved a sacrifice, ritual or some type of calling on the “gods.” The parties involved in the covenant would agree upon a sign of their covenant that would serve as a reminder of the obligations to each other.

Covenants had a mutual benefit for the parties involved. There were always terms and conditions that outlined the details of the covenant. There is also a sense of responsibility upon the parties to uphold the covenant and be faithful to the other parties involved.

Exodus 19-24 tells the story of the covenant made at Mount Sinai. In Exodus 19:5-6, we can see the covenant obligations for Israel:

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” (Exodus 19:5-6, ESV Bible)

Israel’s covenant obligation is to obey God and keep the terms of the covenant. What are the terms of the covenant? They are the laws of the Torah. The covenant itself is not the laws. The covenant is the agreement to keep those laws:

“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. (Deuteronomy 28:1, ESV Bible)

“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, ESV Bible)

“If” they will do these things (stipulations of the covenant)…it all is contingent on Israel’s faithfulness and obedience. Obedience to the covenant brings sanctions, either curses or blessings.

Scholars have been comparing books like Deuteronomy to other ancient Near Eastern treaty documents, like the Hittite treaties. There have been many similarities noticed between these types of documents and scholars are certain Deuteronomy follows the pattern of political treatise of the ancient Near East. One example of a treaty studied is the suzerainty treaty. This is where a king enters into a covenant arrangement with a vassal or dependent nation. In Deuteronomy, God is likened to a king and the people of Israel are His vassal.

Deuteronomy follows a covenant outline as follows:

Preamble (Deuteronomy 1:1-5)

Historical Prologue (Deuteronomy 1:6-3:29)

General (4:1-11:32)and specific stipulations (12:1-26:19)

Sanctions (Curses and Blessings) (27-28)

Summary Recapitulation (29:1-30:20)

Continuity and Disposition (31:1-34:12)

The book of Deuteronomy is meant to spell out the terms of God’s covenant relationship with His people Israel. The covenant of Dueteronomy can be summarized as a contract between God and Israel in which God promised to bless the people of Israel if they would obey His Law but promised to exile them if they disobeyed. History shows that Israel disobeyed many times! So is the covenant broken? The covenant in Deuteronomy also predicts a time when God will bring His people back to the land of Israel after an exile. We see this part of the covenant being played out today with the modern State of Israel and the return of Jewish people to Israel from all over the world. The covenant of Deuteronomy is still valid. This means that Israel is under the same covenantal obligations today as ancient Israel was in Deuteronomy.

Christians often see the Torah as a spiritless legal code. The Torah is contrasted with the New Testament. The New Testament is perceived as being full of grace and the Torah feels like laws that are binding and restrictive. Some even see the Old Testament and the Torah as an expression of God’s judgement and the New Testament as an expression of God’s love. Deuteronomy speaks a story opposite of law and judgement. Deuteronomy speaks of God’s blessings for Israel. It demonstrates his favor, love and mercy for the people. The Torah was never meant to be a list of do’s and dont’s. It was meant to be an expression of covenant relationship.

God’s love (ahavah) for Israel is selective predicated on His love for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understanding the basis of the covenant of Torah to be God’s love for His people and His people’s love for Him helps keep the relationship in perspective. The Torah is like a love letter between God and His people.

The Hebrew word shema expresses the concept of listening and obeying. The word is used in this sense at least 18 times in Deuteronomy. Moses pleads with Israel to listen to the commandments, meaning they should keep their covenant obligations. To “listen” means to “obey.” We see that the expression of covenant fidelity is obedience to the covenant’s stipulations.

Israel is told to remember (zachar) several times. In a covenant, to remember is to do something. It means observing the obligations of the covenant. Don’t forget about the obligations!

The Torah is the Constitution of Israel

The basic ethic of Torah is called the Rule of Law. It works similarly to the way the constitution of a governing body functions. In theory, a constitution is a document that presides over both the governed and the government. In the constitutional model, ultimate sovereignty is not vested within the government; it lies in the constitution that formed the government.

We see the Rule of Law illustrated in the workings of the United States of America. The Constitution of the United States lays out the parameters for American government. Ostensibly, the government can legislate and govern only within those parameters. No government official may overstep the bounds of the Constitution. Government officials are subject to the authority of the Constitution and the legislation spawned by it, just as a private citizens are.

Without the Rule of Law, a government could rule capriciously and without mitigation, as is often the case in economies where law has collapsed and violence has prevailed.

In God’s economy, the Torah is the constitution that mitigates Israel’s government. No one is above God’s Torah because no one is above God. His Word is the final authority, and even the king is not to transgress it. It is written:

“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:18, ESV Bible)

God commands the king to write a copy of the Torah. The king must obey the laws of Torah just like everybody else. In the eyes of the Torah, the king is just another citizen of God’s kingdom.

In an ancient collection of Jewish teaching called the Midrash Rabbah, it describes a story that suggests King Salomon may have made a small change in the Torah. When transcribing the words, “He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away (Deuteronomy 17:17). He removed a small yod from the word yirbeh (multiply) and replaced it with an ale. In replacing the yod, he changed the entire meaning of the passage to say, “I will multiply wives, and his heart will not turn away.”

In his great wisdom, Salomon supposed he understood the reasoning behind the commandment. Why did the Torah command a king not to multiply wives? Clearly, God intended this law as a safeguard for the king’s heart. Salomon understood the intention behind the law. Therefore, he reasonsed, “If I keep my heart from going astray, then I am free to multiply wives.” He felt at liberty to edit the text of the Torah enough to reflect his new insight into God’s law. He thought he could ignore the prohibition on multiplying wives. In his mind, he understood the principle of the law, and he did not need to obey the literal meaning. In popular terms often used today, we could say that Solomon did not need to keep the letter of the law because he understood the spirit of the law.

The midrash continues with the story of Solomon’s edited version of the Torah:

At that time, the yod of the word yarbeh went up on high and prostrated itself before God and said, “Master of the Universe! Did you not say that no letter shall ever be abolished from the Torah? Behold, Solomon has now arisen and abolished one. Who knows? Today he has abolished one letter, tomorrow he will abolish another until the whole Torah will be nullified! God replied, “Solomon and a thousand like him will pass away, but the smallest tittle will not be erased from thee.” (Exodus Rabbah 6:1)

God tells the letter yod that not even the smallest decorative crown would ever be erased from the eternal Torah. He points out that men like Solomon are temporal and passing, but the Law of God is eternal. Solomon may use his wisdom and logic as much as he likes, but God’s Law will stand long after Solomon has disappeared. Jesus may have alluded to this story when he says, “not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Torah until all is accomplished.”

We often spiritualize commandments in the Torah. We assume since we know the true meaning of them, we do not have to keep the commandments. When we think like this, we take our cues from Solomon. We rationalize and construct arguments to exempt ourselves from the Rule of the Law.

Solomon’s great wisdom turned out to be “madness and folly” (Ecclesiastes 2:12). He thought he was wiser than the Torah. He considered himself to be above the literal meaning of the commandment because he understood the text on a deeper level. Are believers in Jesus exempt from the Rule of the Law?

Disciples of Jesus do not keep Torah as a means of attaining salvation or access to the family of God. Paul teaches that salvation is not contingent on any particular commandment but upon the gift of grace. God imputes the righteousness of Messiah to us; we do not create it ourselves. But it would be madness and folly to assume we are exempt from the Rule of the Law. We should not assume that, by merit of our salvation, we possess some special immunity to the commandments of God that apply to us. It would be madness and folly to reinterpret the commandments in a way as to justify our own disobedience.

Perhaps Jesus anticipated our tendency to absolve ourselves from the Rule of the Law. That is why He said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah…”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a theologian, and German Lutheran pastor who lived and ministered primarily during World War 2. He was executed by the Nazis in 1945. He writes regarding Matthew 5:17-19:

The law Jesus refers to is the law of the Old Covenant, not a new law, but the same law that He quoted to the rich young man and the lawyer when they wanted to know the revealed will of God. It becomes a new law only because it is Christ who binds His followers to it. For Christians, therefore, the law is not a “better law” than that of the Pharisees, but one and same; every letter of it, every jot and tittle, must remain in force and be observed until the end of the world. Jesus has in fact nothing to add to the commandments of God, except this, that He keeps them. He fulfills the law, and He tells us so himself; therefore it must be true. He fulfills the law down to the last iota. (The Cost of Discipleship)

The Rule of the Law is the most basic and fundamental ethic of the Torah. Without the Rule of Law, the ethics of the Torah are reduced to simply good advice. Without the Rule of Law, the Ten Commandments become the Ten Suggestions. Yet, we assume the Rule of Law in the Torah does not apply to us. In doing so, we place ourselves above the kings of Israel. We also place ourselves above Messiah, the ultimate king of Israel:

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. (Matthew 10:24)

New Testament theology requires that Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life in accordance with the Torah. If He had transgressed Torah at any point, He would have ceased to be the perfect sinless atonement necessary to pay for our sins. According to Deuteronomy 17, if Jesus is a true king of Israel, He must keep the Torah “all the days of his life” and carefully observe “all the words of this Torah” and “not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left” (Deuteronomy 17:19-20). Jesus was not above the Rule of the Law, even though He was, in respect to His concealed, divine nature, the author of that law.

Conclusion

In understanding the Torah, we see that it represents more than just rules to follow; it is a profound covenant between God and His people, rooted in love, guidance, and instruction. As we study the Torah, we gain insight into God’s desire for His people to live righteously and faithfully. It remains a crucial aspect of the Bible, not obsolete or replaced, but integral to understanding God’s continued relationship with Israel and the world. By embracing its teachings, we connect with the rich heritage of faith that has been passed down through generations. In future lessons, we will explore the significance of the Torah for both Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus, examining how its teachings apply to their faith and spiritual journey.

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