Breaking the commandments

[gadar perets]

As a Messianic Jew how do you determine if a Jewish "ritual" is pleasing God as an essential component of a commandment? For example if a Messianic Jew doesn't wear Tefillin and doesn't cover his head with a prayer shawl while facing east when praying is he breaking a commandment?

What's your opinion on whether or not Yeshua ever put on Tefillin (phylacteries) as an essential ritual commanded by YHWH?

I believe those verses are to be understood figuratively. YHWH wanted His Torah in their minds and memories as though they were always before their eyes and He wanted them to DO them. He certainly never commanded them to make leather boxes that housed a few verses and tie them onto their forehead and hand. He wanted ALL the words He was commanding them that day (Deuteronomy 6:6) to be in their minds and to do them.

I do not believe Yeshua used Tefillin. We are certainly never told he did.

 

[gadar perets]

This is an interesting article that argued rightly that Christ gave the rituals since he was eternal.
Did Jesus Oppose Animal Sacrifice? – Shameless Popery

Nonsense.

 

[Soyeong]

Thanks for everyone's help with understanding the Law and Jesus' teachings. I'm still having trouble understanding, so I want to start at the basics.

What happens when a non-messianic Jew, subject to the full law, breaks a ritual commandment? For example, if he forgets to ritually wash his hands or say a blessing before eating bread?
I know the Rabbis draw a distinction between accidental and intentional transgression. What about someone (like myself) who doesn't do the standing prayer twice daily and often will skip a day due to busyness or distraction?

How does believing in Christ and his atonement change this?

I would like to think that many of the mitzvot are opportunities for blessings and to serve God. If we don't fulfill them it's a missed opportunity, but not necessarily warranting judgement or punishment. We can try next time or we can work towards doing more.

Yet, the passage of I was hungry, I was sick, I was in prison, ect and you did not visit me gives me pause. God does hold our non-action with the mitzvot against us it seems.

-Fred

Hello,

It is important to distinguish between the rituals that God commanded and rituals that are created by man. For instance in Matthew 15:2-3, Jesus was asked by his disciples broke the tradition of the elders by not washing their hands before they ate and Jesus replied by asking them why they broke the command of God for the sake of their tradition. God's Law does not command us to wash our hands before we eat bread, so the Pharisees were guilty of breaking God's command in Deuteronomy 4:2 by adding to what God had commanded. Many of the traditions of men are good, such as the standing prayer, and I think Jesus followed a number of them, but the problem is when we raise our own traditions to the level of God's commands where it is considered a sin if we do not follow them. Jesus criticized the Pharisees as being hypocrites for setting aside the commands of God in order to establish their own traditions, so we must be careful not to make the same mistake.

 

[Soyeong]

I'm not sure I have any right to post here, but the OP caught my eye. Forgive my intrusion, if it is an intrusion.

Welcome.

There are sins of commission (things we do that we shouldn't) and sins of omission (things we should do but don't). If we consider the 10 commandments, three are commands to do certain things; the other 7 are commands not to do various things. Our problem is partly that we think that if we don't do the 7 things listed, we have somehow fulfilled that part of the law.

Jesus reinterpreted the law, turning it sort of inside out, when he made it all about doing, and more or less ignoring the prohibitions: love the Lord your God with every part of your being, and love your neighbour as yourself. He might say "yes, you have not stolen; but have you given, and given in love?" Jesus did not tell the rich young man who came to him, and claimed to have kept the whole law, that he had not. Instead, he told him to sell everything he had, give the money to the poor, and follow him. The young man had quite possibly kept all the prohibitions, but there was no active, love-based behaviour towards others in his life.

I think many of the commands can be taken as commands to do the opposite, such as the command not to steal can be taken as the command to be generous.

Jesus himself could say "I do NOTHING that I do not see my Father doing, NOTHING that my Father does not tell me to do." (John 14:10) Not only so, God is love, and love permeated everything Jesus did. That is why the voice in the cloud of transfiguration could say "This is my son in whom I am well pleased." Jesus lived his relationship with the Father, he did not go about trying to keep commandments. But in living out his relationship he actually was the fulfillment of the law.

I don't see any division between Jesus living his relationship with the Father and trying to keep commandments because his obedience to the commandments were how he was living his relationship with the Father. In John 14:15, Jesus said that if we love him, then we will obey his commands, so obedience and in Matthew 23:23, Jesus said that faith is one of the weightier matters of the Law, so our obedience to God's commands is an expression of our love for Him and of our faith in Him to guide us in how to rightly live, and how we thereby grow in a relationship with Him.

This is how, on the one hand, I as a believer, am free of the law; but if I follow Christ's example fully in love, I will automatically fulfill the deeper spirit and intent of the law. And the only way I can do this is by "abiding in him" so that it is not me that does anything, but Christ living in me. (Galatians 2:20). And it is only when I abide in Christ, and listen closely to the Holy Spirit's voice, that I will know when and how to act, or when to desist from acting. This is the only way I can be sure not to commit sins of omission.

The Spirit has the role of leading us in obedience to God's Law (Ezekiel 36:26-27), so again I see no distinction between our relationship with the Spirit and with seeking to obey commandments.

1 Corinthians 13 goes further and insists that no matter what good things we do for others, if they are not done in love, God doesn't recognise them as "good." My own love is very limited, both in quality and in coverage (i.e. mostly my relatives, good friends, people I like). So I need Christ in me to live out his life of love and obedience to the Father.

Agreed.

The Mosaic law in itself was good. But it was unable to make us good in God's eyes. The ritual law, at least for me, is wonderfully rich in symbolising Jesus Christ - at least in those parts I can understand. So even there, the law can teach me many things, and enlarge my understanding of God. But in that the law pointed forward to Christ, and Christ has come and completed his work, I have no need to follow the ritual - I have Christ, the one of whom the rituals spoke. But I can appreciate the description of the rituals, indeed the law as a whole, for their portrayal of my Lord and Saviour.

The Mosaic Law was never given as instructions for how to become righteous, but rather it was given to those that God had already made righteous as instructions for how to therefore do what is righteous. We are to do good works in obedience to the Law because the completed work of Christ was to give himself to redeem us from all Lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for doing good works (Titus 2:14). We are to do the rituals not in order to gain Christ, but because we have Christ. We are not to do good works in order to become saved, but because we have been saved (Ephesians 2:8-10) and because our salvation involves being trained by grace to do them (Titus 2:11-13).

 

[Soyeong]

The commandments are irrelevant. If a Jew dies without Christ he will be judged according to his rejection of Christ. His obedience to the Mosaic law will only be used to show his utter failure in keeping the Law. This question, of course, can only be answered by God. Romans 2 gives us some ideas, but ultimately God will judge each person on a one by one case.

The Mosaic Law was never given to show us that we are an utter failure, but rather as stated it was given for our own good, to prosper us, and to teach us how to walk in God's ways. The Law itself came with instructions for what to do when we failed to obey it, so we are only an utter failure according to the Law if we do not continue to practice repentance for our disobedience. The Law was intended to teach us how to have a relationship with Christ based on faith and love (Romans 10:4), so obedience to God's commands is only irrelevant if our obedience is not a means of growing in a relationship with Him. Prior to Paul's experience on the Damascus road, he had been keeping the Law without having a focus on his relationship with Christ, so he had been completely missing the whole point, which is why he considered it to be rubbish (Philippians 3:8).

 

[Soyeong]

Okay, you all are right in that going to heaven isn't based on ritual following of the law.

Maybe I need back up to my most fundamental question. "What do I do to be saved?" And related, what does salvation mean?


Acts 16:29-34
"29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household."

I am definitely not an evangelical though, no offense to any that are. Belief in the Greek I think means trust, follow just as much as intellectually agree with. In English, belief can also mean this. You believe in someone.

To me, salvation is also more than what happens to me after I die. It is how do I find refuge and peace in this life from the demonic (either allegorical or literal) forces that inflict misery both in the world and within my own heart and mind. I seek God's salvation in the here and now to transform my suffering and my brokenness into participating in His holiness. Ritual, especially prayer, is a powerful way to do that. I find I am who I want to be, who I feel called to be while I'm praying. Prayer is my salvation in a way.

So that's what I'm seeking in the study of Torah and mitzvot and in the use of tefflin and tallit during my morning prayers. It's also between God and I, to seek His presence not to comply with Rabbinical rules or gain man's approval. That being said I shouldn't be disrespectful of the traditions I'm borrowing from either, by wearing tefflin however I feel like for example.

But I definitely don't have it all figured it out and am continuing to wrestle with the different views in scripture, the teachings of the church and the Rabbis, and finding where God Himself calls and leads me.

The Bible speaks about our salvation as something that happens after we die (Romans 5:9-10), but it also speaks about it as something that has already happened (Ephesians 2:8), and as something that is happening right now (Philippians 2:12), so our salvation in all-encompassing. In Titus 2:11-14, it says that our salvation involves redeemed from all Lawlessness, but it also involves being trained to do what is godly, righteous, and good and being trained to renounce doing what is ungodly and sinful, which is essentially what the Law was given to instruct us how to do. Our salvation is from our sins (Matthew 1:21), our sins are our transgressions of God's Law (1 John 3:4), and so our salvation is from living in transgression of the Law for the purpose of being made to be obedient to it like Christ.

 

[Soyeong]

I can't fully reply to this, as my answer would violate the SOP. I'll say what I can.

The washing of the hands is a rabbinical ruling that predates Yeshua, but still a rabbinical ruling. So whether one observes it depends on what Halacha one is following. So for example, if you follow Orthodox halacha, you wash your hands before a bread meal. If you follow UMJC's standards of observance,you don't. I forget what Conservative Judaism's halacha demands, but the same would go there.

In Christianity, we aren't looking to move to the Promised Land. We are looking for eternal life. And we receive that BY GRACE which is FREE AND UNDESERVED. IOW we aren't REQUIRED by the New Covenant, IMHO, to obey the 613 FOR SALVATION--either Gentile or Jew--although it is a beautiful way to show our love for Hashem (I highly recommend it).

Personally, I follow the halacha that says to wash my hands -- although some of Jesus' disciples did not, Jesus did and so did the rest of his disciples. My church, knowing that I'm a Jew, fully supports me in doing this, although the vast majority in my church don't.

There are universal laws that are a part of "Love God and love your neighbor." These are different. They are absolutely required of Christians (including Messianics). Embezzling would be a violation. As would adultery or murder. And it means avoiding sins of ommision -- not doing what is right. That's where Jesus taught that we are required to do unto the least of these--good works.

It's not that good works earns us grace -- GRACE IS FREE AND UNDESERVED. But we respond to grace with obedience, faith, and good works, or we are basically rejecting the grace that God is offering us.

Psalms 119:29 Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me and teach me your law.

The way that God is gracious to us is by teaching us how to rightly live in accordance with His Law. Not even those under the Mosaic Covenant were required to obey the 613 Laws for salvation, but rather they were to obey them because they had been saved, because they loved God, and because they had faith in God to guide them in how to rightly live.

 

[Soyeong]

No because they are not found in the TEN. But they should because God is wiser and there is a blessing in the obedience to the 613 where applicable. There is wise Godly guidance in the purification laws, the dietary laws, the rules of engagement, the social responsibilities, etc etc etc. Those who meditate upon them and are guided by them in determining how to live according to His Word will benefit. But to follow them by rout ritualism gain nothing.

Knew a gentle farmer who did the seven year rest for his fields. He was blessed so much that his neighbors came by to see it and try to understand how it was possible. Rain would fall just on his property, he planted according to his understanding of what God wanted. He was blessed in miracles like perfect timing for rain, protection of crops, greater yield, and the choosing of the right crop to grow in the spring for the best fall prices to sell. All because he obeyed the laws of land resting every seven years.

Now did he follow other laws of God with this same principle and dedication. Not that he mentioned. He was a Sabbath Keeper, I do know. I found his spirit and principles that he lived by to be very humble and caring.

On thing that everyone in Hebrews 11 had in common was that they were all men of prayer who heard God's voice and obeyed by faith. This was the type of relationship that God wanted corporately with Israel, so the original law of the covenant was the Ten Commandments and the condition that the people would hear God's voice and obey (Exodus 19:5), but upon hearing God's voice they God cold feet and changed the terms of the covenant (Exodus 20:19), which God agreed to, but it nevertheless became necessary for Moses to hear God's voice write down His commands instead (Deuteronomy 5:22-33). Regardless of whether they were written by God's finger, they were all commands of God, so it does matter whether a command is found in one of the TEN.

 

[Soyeong]

Yes, I was being sarcastic.

...he said sarcastically.

 

[Soyeong]

The more I think about the ritual mitzvot, the more I realize that I'm just not called to them. That makes sense if I feel I'm not called to be a member of the Jewish people. They have a special role as the priesthood of mankind. So perhaps someone with a "Jewish soul" as the Kabbalist speak of, that is someone called by God to adopt all the mitzvot would feel more led to do so and are thus called towards conversion. I even remember a specific point where my wife and I were arguing about my growing interest in Judaism (she's Christian) and I felt God was saying "it's going to be okay, don't lose your marriage over this." And I thought how could it be okay?! I had just found and been found by God again after a long time of searching. But His plans are better than our plans.

I do feel very called to the noahide laws and to a practice of prayer. The Rabbis say there is nothing wrong with a Gentile/noahide wearing tefflin and may gain blessings from doing so.
Can a non-Jew don tefillin?

And yes, this is totally contradictory that I'm pointing to Rabbinical judgements on Noahides yet saying I don't accept their authority maybe it's just me not being called to being Jewish. Also it's a legalistic solution of covering my basis in response to a legalistic system.

Jews have a special role given by God and that role is to be a light to the nations to teach them how to serve God and to walk in His ways (Deuteronomy 4:5-8, Isaiah 2:2-3, Isaiah 49:6). God's commands are not instructions for how to live as Jews, but instructions for how to live according to God's attributes. For example, in Leviticus 11:44-45, God was giving instructions for how to be holy for He is holy, so refraining from eating unclean animals is not about living like a Jew, but about acting according to God's holiness. In Matthew 23:23, Jesus said that justice, mercy, and faith are weightier matters of the Law, so all of the Laws are instructions for how to live according to God's attributes, His holiness, righteousness, goodness, and other fruits of the Spirit.

 

[Soyeong]

I believe those verses are to be understood figuratively. YHWH wanted His Torah in their minds and memories as though they were always before their eyes and He wanted them to DO them. He certainly never commanded them to make leather boxes that housed a few verses and tie them onto their forehead and hand. He wanted ALL the words He was commanding them that day (Deuteronomy 6:6) to be in their minds and to do them.

I do not believe Yeshua used Tefillin. We are certainly never told he did.

If Jesus hadn't be wearing Tefillin, do you think that the Pharisees would have missed the opportunity to criticize him for that? While we are never told that he did, we are also never told that he didn't, so it is an argument from silence either way, but I think it is more reasonable to consider that the Pharisees would have raised a commotion if he hadn't, so it is something that we should expect to find, but isn't there.

 

[gadar perets]

If Jesus hadn't be wearing Tefillin, do you think that the Pharisees would have missed the opportunity to criticize him for that?

It is questionable whether Tefillin were worn in Yeshua's day. According to Philo, the command was understood metaphorically. The Samaritans and Kairites also understand the command metaphorically. The historical evidence is ambiguous. It is possible that they were not used by the general population, but by a particular group. Then there is the question of, if they were used literally, when were they used? Were they used privately in Yeshua's day or in public worship? If they weren't worn publicly, then there would be no cause to criticize him.

 

[Steve Petersen]

It is questionable whether Tefillin were worn in Yeshua's day. According to Philo, the command was understood metaphorically. The Samaritans and Kairites also understand the command metaphorically. The historical evidence is ambiguous. It is possible that they were not used by the general population, but by a particular group. Then there is the question of, if they were used literally, when were they used? Were they used privately in Yeshua's day or in public worship? If they weren't worn publicly, then there would be no cause to criticize him.

Qumran Phylacteries Reveal Nine New Dead Sea Scrolls - Biblical Archaeology Society

 

[Monna]

Jesus said that faith is one of the weightier matters of the Law, so our obedience to God's commands is an expression of our love for Him

It can be; or it can be that we think "if I keep the law, it is proof that I love him." And that is not so. If love is not the source of our motivation, whatever "good deeds/law keeping" we do count for nothing in the eyes of God. (1 Cor 13). And "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Obedience to God's commands can also be motivated by fear, and the thought (conscious or unconscious) that we can earn our salvation by works. But God is the source of faith and of love - I cannot live in faith or love on my own. I can certainly try to keep the law on my own.

We are so deeply flawed that it is very difficult to let Yeshua live in and through us, rather than do the living ourselves, in our own strength, imagining that we are doing his work. A lot of our socialisation is about making others socially indebted to us, in order to win praise, build up credit that we can call in in future, or to look good, keep up with the Joneses, or win points with God. At least this is my experience.

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

 

[Meowzltov]

but rather they were to obey them because they had been saved,

Saved from Egypt. Not saved from hell.

 

[Soyeong]

It can be; or it can be that we think "if I keep the law, it is proof that I love him." And that is not so. If love is not the source of our motivation, whatever "good deeds/law keeping" we do count for nothing in the eyes of God. (1 Cor 13). And "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Obedience to God's commands can also be motivated by fear, and the thought (conscious or unconscious) that we can earn our salvation by works. But God is the source of faith and of love - I cannot live in faith or love on my own. I can certainly try to keep the law on my own.

We are so deeply flawed that it is very difficult to let Yeshua live in and through us, rather than do the living ourselves, in our own strength, imagining that we are doing his work. A lot of our socialisation is about making others socially indebted to us, in order to win praise, build up credit that we can call in in future, or to look good, keep up with the Joneses, or win points with God. At least this is my experience.

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

John 14:23-24 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

I agree that God's Law be obeyed for reasons other than faith and love, but if we are not obeying the Law out of faith and love, then we are completely missing the point. The righteous deed of the saints are not like filthy rags, but are like fine white linen (Revelation 19:8). In Isaiah 64:6, it was not God speaking in didian for those who were obeying His commands, but rather it was the people speaking about how they perceived that God was viewing their good works.

 

[Soyeong]

Saved from Egypt. Not saved from hell.

Egypt is symbolic, so saved from both. We have been saved from sin therefore we are not to continue to practice sin, but to practice obedience.

 

[Meowzltov]

If I understand you correctly, you are saying we don't "have to" keep the dietary laws, social responsibilities (not sure what you are referring to), etc., because they are not in the TEN? If so, I totally disagree. To eat swine's flesh, for example, is a SIN. All believers have to abstain from eating it. All believers have to abstain from having sex with those people forbidden to us as per Leviticus 18. These social responsibilities are not optional.

I think there are a variety of opinions on this in the forum, and the forum is big enough for all of us, wouldn't you agree? thank you for expressing yours.

 

[Meowzltov]

It can be; or it can be that we think "if I keep the law, it is proof that I love him." And that is not so.

In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. 1 John 5:3

 

[gadar perets]

I think there are a variety of opinions on this in the forum, and the forum is big enough for all of us, wouldn't you agree? thank you for expressing yours.

No opinion is going to change the Scriptural fact that we cannot have sex with our parents, brothers, sisters, etc. If anyone holds the opinion that we can, then they are spiritually sick and yet carnal.