When we read the letter Shaul wrote to the Galatian Believers, in Chapter 4 he mentions how the Torah acted as a guardian over children, but now that we are one with Yeshua we are no longer children under a guardian, but heirs to God’s kingdom.
My question is this: once you leave your guardian, does that mean you can reject all that they taught you?
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Christianity has always used this letter to the Galatians as a polemic against following the Torah, when in actuality it is an apologetic for the Torah.
What Shaul is saying is that following the Torah as a means of earning salvation (which is what Legalism is) is useless because once you try to do everything in the Torah, you will fail. The reason you will fail is because no one can be 100% obedient to the Torah 100% of the time.
That is why God gave us the sacrificial system- so when we fail, we can recover.
But he doesn’t say the Torah is obsolete or done away with: his message is not anti-Torah, it is anti-legalistic approach to obedience to the Torah.
Yeah, I know that is somewhat hard to follow, but it is really simple: the Torah is the way God wants us to worship him (Leviticus 23) and how to treat each other (pretty much the entire Torah), and he also gives us the sacrificial system (Leviticus 1-7) because he knew that we would not be able to be 100% obedient.
Think of it as a contract with an escape clause.
As I have said, in Chapter 4 Shaul relates the Torah to being a guardian, and once we were joined to Yeshua, that guardian was no longer controlling us (or, at least, that is the way he makes it seem).
Okay, so let’s go along with that. Before Yeshua, the Torah was in charge, teaching us the way God wants us to live. Now Yeshua comes along, teaches us the deeper, spiritual meaning of the Torah (his Sermon on the Mount is a great example of that) and we follow his teachings.
Wait a minute! Christianity says Christians should obey the “Law of Christ” because we are no longer under the Torah, but Christ taught the Torah!
Uh… what?
That’s right! Yeshua taught us the Torah, even though Shaul made it seem that as our guardian the Torah wasn’t necessary after we joined with Yeshua.
Now, the question I am raising is this: a true guardian will teach you the proper way to live, to worship, and to treat others, but when you reach maturity and the guardian is no longer in control of you, should you reject everything the guardian taught you?
If you are no longer legally required to obey a guardian, does that mean once “free” you can reject all that you were taught and live any old way you want to?
Well, the answer is…Yes, you can. You can be taught all that is righteous and proper, and once you no longer have to obey that guardian, you can be as sinful and perverse as you want to be.
However, if we are talking about spiritual life, and God’s Torah being the guardian, sure you can apostatize and live as you want to, but you will suffer for it when you come to Judgement (as we all will).
And what I have never been able to “get” is that Christianity teaches you can pretty much do that.
Not to be perverse and sinful, but it teaches when you “believe in Jesus” (whatever the heck that is supposed to mean), you are no longer under a guardian (i.e., Torah) so you can pretty much live anyway you want to, so long as you are a good person and love your neighbor.
Funny, isn’t it though, how Yeshua himself refused to be called good, saying only his father in heaven is good (Mark 10:18), yet Christianity teaches that you should be good.
That’s a pretty tough standard to reach, considering according to Yeshua you would have to be God.
So, nu? …where does all this mean?
Do you love someone? If you do, don’t you want to make them happy? Don’t you want to do what pleases them? Isn’t doing a “labor of love” not as difficult as doing it because you had to?
If these statements make sense to you, then you know what Yeshua meant when he said the most important commandments are to love the Lord and to love each other, because all of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot.” (Matthew 22:40)
Those two requirements do not reject or do away with the rest of the Torah, they simply make it possible for you to follow the entire Torah without having to try very hard.
Thank you for being here and please remember to comment and share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.
That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!