Why We Can’t Dismiss Jesus’s Warning About the Torah (Matthew 5:17-19)

There is a giant misconception in modern Christianity and Judaism that needs to be addressed.

I’ve stated multiple times on this site that Christians cannot keep the Torah literally in our modern era, but the truth is, we must keep the tenets found within the Torah as the basis of morality.

Having a justice system based on the Torah’s principles will probably only occur during the End Times, because the nature of the prophetic passages of the Bible seems to suggest a world where Israel is theocratic in most respects.

The five books of Moses are the foundation on which our entire faith is based, whether Hebrew or Christian.

We can’t keep theocratic monarchy’s demands in the 21st century in America or any other nation that is not Israel, and even Israel is mostly secular today.

Yet, this being the case, we can be like Daniel in Babylon.

Daniel didn’t capitulate to the wicked demands of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, instead choosing to potentially die for the cause of keeping God’s commands in a situation that he couldn’t keep every commandment that applied to him as a young man.

Jesus said, “‘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. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven’” (Matthew 5:17-19 [ESV]).

Jesus Himself says that until heaven and the planet Earth pass away (which doesn’t happen until the New Heavens and New Earth of Revelation 21-22) the Law remains. He even says that if you relax one of the least of the commands and teach others to do the same, then you will be least in His kingdom. Those words are harsh.

So why does mainstream Christianity teach something different from Yahweh’s commandments?

Remember, we can’t keep every part of the Torah, since we aren’t in a theocratic monarchy, but the moral principles apply no matter where you are, or what epoch you live in.

This past Yom Kippur season, I asked God to cleanse me of all that is leading me astray and not like Jesus. But He revealed to me I’ve belittled the Torah—albeit not my intention in my heart. But it doesn’t matter what my intention was when His intention is to teach the nations His holy Torah.

We Gentiles are grafted into the olive tree that is Israel, even if we don’t cease our Gentile roots.

Does following God’s commandments save you from your sins?

No.

Only accepting Jesus’s sacrifice on our behalf and His atoning Yom Kippur blood do that.

The Torah only does three certain things.

It defines sin (not your church or pastor’s ideas of what sin is).

It blesses you (keeping God’s commandments is a blessing in and of itself, but blessings follow those who choose life and keep the commandments).

It curses you for breaking the commandments (mistreating someone will only end up in disaster and is a sure consequence of not loving them).

That’s it.

We keep God’s commands because we love Him and love our neighbor.

We aren’t saved by our works, but good works follow those who are truly in Christ. We can’t earn our way into the Kingdom of God. Yet, Jesus states we can be least in His kingdom by nullifying the Torah in even a small area.

These moral commands are to be followed wherever we are. You can love your neighbor anywhere. You can choose life anywhere. Even commands like tzitzits can be done anywhere, even if it seems to be specific about an outer garment having tassels, not your pants.

Jesus mentions many will come to Him and say they’ve done so much for Him, cast out demons, and healed the sick (Matthew 7:21-23). But He will tell them to get lost because they don’t obey Him and His commandments.
His commandments are easy, and His burden is light.

There are some hard things in the Bible, sure. We don’t live like ancient nomads looking for a promised land of abundance and rest from their enemies in a militant context. We don’t understand sacrifices, covenants, and loyalty to the tribe like they did (in the context in which they lived, of course).

It might be time to admit that churches have (whether or not intentionally) lied to us.

There are many disillusioned Mormons coming out of the Latter-Day faith for similar reasons. Same with SDA and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Christians are not exempt from deception.

Let’s take Jesus’s words seriously and understand the Torah is a delight and the commands are good and full of life.

There is no getting around Matthew 5:17-19. It can’t be done. And we are warned that the writings of Paul are perplexing. Meaning they aren’t at surface-level easy to take what he says always at face value (2 Peter 3).

May you ponder our Messiah’s words and have a life full of shalom and blessings.