Christian Midrash on the Torah and New Testament’s Relationship
The subject of the relevance of the Torah in the Christian walk is one of major controversy and debate—but it is a vital part of understanding the relationship of the Messiah to the Old Testament books of the Hebrew Bible.
Everything contained within the Old Testament books of the Pentateuch is about Yeshua, or Jesus Christ. The construction of the Tabernacle, the red heifer sacrifice, and the Levitical garments all point us to the coming Savior of the world.
Without this knowledge, the Christian enters the dangerous territory of believing that the Old Testament is in fact “old” and of little relevance to the modern faith.
Many prominent Jewish scholars attest to the fact the Messiah was a Torah-observant Jew, information that cannot be ignored when seeking understanding in theology. Focusing on where the customs of the first century originated is essential to understanding the overall theme of the Holy Bible.
In fact, ancient Israelite customs are just as much about the Messiah as the New Testament. Simply put, multiple theologians have said the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.
Let’s dive into the Torah and match it to the theology of being saved by grace through the sacrifice of the Messiah to find out if we are to investigate the ancient paths after the cross.
Has Paul been misunderstood?
Are we missing a piece of the Christian and Hebrew puzzle that can shed light on where modern theology has drifted, and can we get back to the proper path even after almost two thousand years have passed?
Was Paul Really Against the Torah?
The Apostle Paul is famous as the greatest emissary of the Christian faith, but he has been accused by many theologians of keeping the Law of God out of the faith.
Romans 3:31 would beg to differ with the popular opinion of Jesus nailing the Old Covenant morals to the Cross.
We aren’t tied to the Levitical system anymore, yet we must keep the morality of Yahweh in our hearts.
Romans 3:31 states, “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” The Torah is always important, even if observing the commandments found inside it isn’t quite possible today. We cannot be Torah-observant Christians in the time in which we live.
Yet, that does not negate the moral precepts found within books of the Old Testament.
This agrees with Jesus’s statement that the Law will not pass away until the heavens and Earth do.
Matthew 5:17-18 has Jesus stating, “‘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.’”
All has not been accomplished, as the Second Coming of Christ has not yet happened, let alone all the prophecies. This is a surefire proof from Scripture that the Torah has to stand until the heavens and the Earth pass away, which doesn’t happen until after the Millennial Reign of Christ.
There is a concept of unity within the Old Testament books that can be connected to the New Testament for further unification of the Bible. When we connect the two covenants, we have the complete picture, and the statements of Paul make more sense in the span of the entire biblical narrative.
We can’t keep the Torah literally today, but we keep the spirit of the commandments of God.
The Law will never save us. Only grace does that. But the blessings are there for choosing God’s commands over our own ways.
The Torah will bless us for obeying what we can carry out. The Levitical sacrifices and purity system have ceased to be necessary for all time, though a form of it will live on in the Millennium.
Hey, I didn’t make it up. Read Zechariah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel (all the way through). They all say it.
The actual word Torah is closer to “instructions” in Hebrew, not the commonly translated word “law.” The Messiah said that if we love Him, we should keep His commandments, and His commandments are the same as the Father’s from so long ago.
Jesus is our Torah to follow, seeing as He has the correct interpretations apart from religious authorities.
The commandments we are to keep are the parental type, to give us a long life and prosperity, but the legislative commandments are impossible today.
Those strawman arguments of stoning children and the like (which only judges could carry out, and if a single person was killed they were called bloodthirsty)mean little today, anyway, seeing as we’re in the New Covenant.
The Law is on our hearts, not in written code alone.
There wasn’t even a New Testament in the time of Christ and the Twelve Apostles, as the sacred writings that they had were only Old Testament books.
How do we reconcile their statements about Scripture when they were in the middle of writing the New Testament? The answer is, they meant from Genesis to Malachi.
Is Paul a man with a split-personality disorder or is he just easily misunderstood?
Galatians 3:12 states, “But the law is not of faith, rather, ‘the one who does them shall live by them.’”
In context, the faith that comes with accepting Christ does not nullify the righteousness that comes through righteous living.
The man who does the commandments shall live by them. Paul is actually quoting Leviticus 18:5 in Galatians, relating his wisdom to the Torah given by Moses. So, in essence, we accept Christ through faith, and then, in obedience to the Father, accept the Torah and live by it (the commands that are possible, not ceremonial aspects of the legislative type).
Peter also tells us Paul can be hard to understand in 2 Peter Chapter 3.
Take a look:
“And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. THERE ARE SOME THINGS IN THEM THAT ARE HARD TO UNDERSTAND, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You, therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with THE ERROR OF LAWLESS PEOPLE and lose your own stability.”
While the Law of God was a schoolmaster that led to Christ, a shadow cannot be ignored. Paul’s point is that a shadow of things to come is still present, just as a shadow is always present unless a man or woman is in the dark. The light is there in Christ, but the shadows of the Old Testament remain in a lesser form.
The Cross and the Nation of Israel Versus Gentiles
The whole point of Paul’s letters was to compliment the understanding of the Torah as it relates to the cross. The cross was always the entire point of salvation, but because we are saved, we are now welcome to the covenant promises of Israel, being fellow heirs with the people of God.
“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 2:2 [ESV]).
As a Christian, we are now welcome to be a part of the commonwealth of Israel.
The word Hebrew means to “cross over” from Gentile to God’s nation of Israel.
We do not replace national Israel as a people. We are part of spiritual Israel under the New Covenant of the Messiah.
Abraham is a perfect example of this concept, as he was a Gentile who was called by God to the Land of Canaan. God’s original plan was to call out a people for His Name from the nations, to restore His glory on the Earth.
This means the Torah was given to more than just the Jewish people, since all twelve tribes and a mixed multitude from Egypt were present at Mt. Sinai. The people of Israel were not Gentiles any longer after being called out of the nations by God, because they were told to be set apart or holy from the nations, which made them unable to be Gentiles by default (in one spiritual sense).
Since Gentile means “of the nations” according to all the lexicons and bible dictionaries available, Israel is the one nation of God that is holy, and the rest of the nations are grouped together as the Hebrew word “goyim” or nations.
A Gentile still has their roots as a Gentile, meaning a Brazilian would remain that nationality while part of Israel’s commonwealth.
What sets them apart from the rest of the world? They were given the commandments of God and called to live in harmony with the Creator.
Just as Ruth said her God would be Yahweh, so, too, is the one who comes to Jesus, also part of that New Covenant in Him.
Thinking Over the Torah and New Covenant
Are we really being a Christian when we ignore the rest of the Bible in favor of New Testament theology alone?
If all Scripture is good, why focus only on the latter half of the Bible? Not a terrible thing to do, sure, but the complete message is consistent.
We have learned that Paul taught Torah, not the opposite viewpoint. Another vital point becoming known is the difference between the nations and God’s nation of Israel.
We need to hear God’s Word through Hebraic eyes using the spirit of the New Testament—as a chosen people and royal priesthood out of the nations—to restore the glory of God’s name here on the Earth.
God is looking for men and women of faith who will proclaim the name of Jesus and the Father’s commandments together in the Great Commission of Matthew 28.
It will be a journey full of excitement and the power of the Spirit, but in the end, God will receive all the glory. We as Christians need to honor our King, and to do this, we need to go back to the beginning of the text and re-evaluate our theology to truly display the power of the gospel message to the unbelieving world.
My Final Thoughts on This Matter
That Christians should follow the Torah as given by God through Moses at Mt. Sinai is an integral part of my walk with our Creator, with a huge caveat.
It is impossible to keep the original Torah in the legislative spirit, but the moral commands are always in style.
Observing the Feast Days and dietary instructions among other commandments makes the Bible come alive to greater depths than the typical Christian walk of grace through faith alone.
We add nothing to Jesus’s sacrifice—only serve Him as we seek His blessings and commandments in the search for understanding.
One way to do that is to study the Torah.
James, in his epistle, tells us that “faith without works is dead,” and the Hebrew concept of faith is to hear and obey, rather than just hearing it alone.
I have noticed the Torah is called good and holy in the New Testament in many places, which has made me question the typical mindset of most churches today. Instead of playing church, I strive to follow Jesus in the closest way possible, which is to walk as He walked. He walked by living out His Father’s commandments, and in perfect emulation of Christ, we should want to do the same thing.
There are many people who think these instructions were for the Jewish people alone, but thinking in that way divides the Bible and disrupts the entire narrative.
While staying careful not to appropriate culture, we are still allowed to follow the moral tenets of the Torah without restriction in the New Testament. Nothing in the New Testament says we can’t keep these things.
Be mindful of Jewish appropriation and look not to offend our brothers and sisters in the tribe of Judah.
Follow the Messiah and the Torah (which parts are possible to keep and congruent with the New Covenant) in harmony. That way, He won’t tell us to get lost because we spoke against His commandments (Matthew 7:23).
