The Torah is Still Binding and We Must Obey It

metaphorically

Obviously, the priesthood identified in the law has been replaced by the eternal high priest Jesus.

Well you accept that don't you.

Matthew 5:18
For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished!

If the Levitical priesthood has been fulfilled by Jesus, then logically, the 'stroke of a letter'. Has passed from the law.

Which means simply, that the law has been fulfilled, all we need is one letter to pass from the law.

If anyone obeys the Torah, s/he is a Jew. (That is the clear definition.)

All has been accomplished!

Don't they have penicillin for that now?

I've heard it explained this way, which makes sense to me... "The Law is the railings to the road which is Love."
In other words, The Law is still effective to remind us and spur us to Love.

"Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has FULLFILLED THE LAW. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word" You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
Romans 13:8-10

Indeed and I have repented.

Jesus is God's word made flesh, so saying that he is the only way to salvation is the same as saying that us embodying God's word through following his example of obedience to it is the only way to salvation. It is contradictory to think that we are saved by faith in God's word made flesh, but not by faith in God's word. The way to put Jesus on the shelf is by putting God's word on the shelf. In Titus 2:14, Jesus gave 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, so becoming zealous for doing good works in obedience to God's law is the way to believe in what Jesus accomplished through the cross (Acts 21:20) while returning to the lawlessness that he gave himself to redeem us from is the way to reject what he accomplished through the cross.

Jesus did not end the Sermon on the Mount by telling us to have good luck or by telling us that he was just kidding about doing all those things, but rather he ended it by saying:

Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

In Romans 10:5-8, it references Deuteronomy 30:11-20 as the word of faith that we proclaim in regard to saying that the Mosaic Law is not too difficult for us to obey and that obedience to it brings life and a blessing while disobedience brings death and a curse, so choose life! So it was presented as a possibility and as a choice, not as the need to have perfect obedience or as something that is impossible for us to do. Moreover, there are many examples in the Bible of people who did keep God's law, such as those in Joshua 22:1-3, Luke 1:5-6, Revelation 14:12, and Revelation 22:14.

It is contradictory to think both that Gentiles were freed from the Torah and that Gentiles were never under the Torah, though both positions are wrong. In Matthew 4:15-23, Jesus began his ministry with the Gospel message to repent for the Kingdom of God, which was a light to the Gentiles, and the Torah was how his audience knew what sin is, so repenting from our disobedience to it is a central part of the Gospel of the Kingdom, which means that if Gentiles were freed from that requirement, then Gentiles have no need of the Gospel and have no need for Jesus to have need for Jesus to have himself to free us form all lawlessness.

That is a false dichotomy, but rather God is gracious to us by teaching us to obey His law (Psalms 119:29-30, Exodus 33:13, Genesis 6:8-9, Romans 1:5, Titus 2:11-13). Likewise, the Spirit has the role of leading us to obey God's law (Ezekiel 36:26-27) and Paul contrasted those who walk in the Spirit with those who have minds set on the flesh who are enemies of God who refuse to submit to His law (Romans 8:4-7).

Indeed, love fulfills the Mosaic Law because everything in it was commanded in order to teach us how to love God and our neighbor, which is why Jesus said in Matthew 22:36-40 that those are the greatest two commandments and that all of the other commandments hang on them. So the position that we should obey the greatest two commandments on the Mosaic Law is the position that we should obey all of he commandments that hang on them, for example, if we love God and our neighbor, then we won't commit adultery, theft, murder, idolatry, rape, kidnapping, favoritism, and so forth for the rest of the Mosaic Law.

The time stamp of post #283 is 4:26 PM and the time stamp on my reply to it in post #298 is 4:56 PM.

In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he and Israel might know Him, in 1 Kings 2:1-3, God taught how to walk in His way through His law, in Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so the purpose of the law is to teach the lawless how to know God and Jesus, which is eternal life (John 17:3), which is also why Jesus said that the way to inherit eternal life is by obeying it (Luke 10:25-28, Matthew 19:17).

In Isaiah 51:7, the righteous are those on whose heart is God's law. It is absurd for someone to interpret 1 Timothy 1:9 as saying that the righteous are free to live unrighteously because the law is binding only on the unrighteous.

Someone who disregarded everything that their schoolmaster taught them after they graduated would be missing the whole point of a schoolmaster. God's word lead us to God's word made flesh because it is God's instructions for how to know him, but it does not lead us to Christ so that we can then be free to do the things that God has revealed to be sin through His word.

In Galatians 3:16-19, a. new covenant does not nullify the promise of a covenant that has already been ratified, so it is also true that the New Covenant does not nullify our need to obey God's law in connection with the promise that God made to Abraham (Genesis 18:19, Genesis 26:4-5, Deuteronomy 30:16). Furthermore, in Galatians 3:26-29, every aspect of being children of God (1), through faith (2), in Christ (3), and children of Abraham and heirs to the promise (4) is directly connected with living in obedience to God's law. In 1 John 3:4-10, those who do not practice righteousness in obedience to God's law are not children of God (1). In Matthew 23:23, Jesus said that faith is one of the weightier matters of God's law (2). In 1 John 2:6, those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way he walked (3). In John 8:39, Jesus said that if they were children of Abraham, then they would be doing the same works as him (4).

In Acts 5:32, the Spirit has been given to those who obey God, so obedience to God is part of the way to receive the Spirit, however, Galatians 3:1-2 denies that "works of the law" are part of the way to receive the Spirit, therefore that phrase does not refer to obedience to the Book of the Law. According to Deuteronomy 27-28, relying on the Book of the Law is the way to be blessed while not relying on it is the way to be cursed, so Galatians 3:10 should not be interpreted as Paul quoting from that passage in order to support a point that is arguing against that passage by saying that relying on the Book of the Law is the way to be cursed and not relying on it is the way to avoid being cursed. Rather, everyone who does not rely on the Book of the Law comes under its curse, which is why all those who rely on works of the law instead come under that curse.

In Galatians 3:10-12, Paul connected a quote from Habakkuk 2:4 saying that the righteous shall live by faith with a quote from Leviticus 18:5 that the one who obeys God's law will live by it, so the righteous who are living by faith are the same as those who are living in obedience to God's law. The context of Habakkuk 2 contrasts the righteous who are living by faith with those who are not living in obedience to God's law, and in Isaiah 51:7, the righteous are those on whose heart is God's law, so the righteous living by faith does not refer to a manner of living that is not in obedience to it. God is trustworthy, therefore His law is also trustworthy (Psalms 19:7), so the way to trust God is by obediently trusting in His law, it is contradictory to think that we should trust God, but not His law, and to interpret this as saying that God's law is not of faith rather than works of the law is to deny the faithfulness of God.

Our salvation is from sin (Matthew 1:21) and sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), so living in obedience to it through faith in Jesus is intrinsically the content of his gift of saving us from not living in obedience to it.

The Father has straightforwardly made his will known through His law (Psalms 40:8) and Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to deport from him, not those who are workers of the law.

It is those who do not continue to obey in the Book of the Law that are under its curse, not those who continue obey it (Galatians 3:10).

To say that someone is righteous means that they are a doer of righteous works in accordance with God's law, for example, to say that God is righteous is to say that he is a doer of righteous works and it would be contradictory to say that God is righteous if He were not a doer of righteous works. In 1 John 2:6, it says that those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way he walked, not that we are free from doing that.

In Romans 6:14, it describes the law that we aren't under as being a law where sin had dominion over us, which does not describe the Law of God, which is a law where holiness, righteousness, and goodness have dominion over us (Romans 7:12), but rather it is the law of sin where sin had dominion over us. Moreover, in Romans 6:15, being under grace does not mean that we are permitted to sin, and in 1 John 3:4, sin is the transgression of God's law, so we are still under it. Likewise, everything else in Romans 6 speaks in favor of obedience to God's law and against sin, so we need to die to the law of sin in order to be free to obey the Law of God, not the other way around.

In Deuteronomy 27-28, it describes the blessing of the law of living in obedience to it and the curse of the law of not living in obedience to it, so being set free from the curse of the law is being set free from not living in obedience to it so that we can be free to enjoy the blessing of living in obedience to it.

In Romans 3:27-31, Paul contrasted a law of works with a law of faith, so works of the law are of works, while he said that our faith upholds God's law, so it is of faith, and the law that our faith upholds can't be referring to the same thing as the works of the law that are not of faith in Galatians 3:10-12.

In Psalms 119:29-30, he wanted to put false ways far from him, for God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey His law, and he chose the way of faith by setting it before him, so this has always been the one and only way of salvation by grace through faith. In Ephesians 2:8-10, it says that we are new creations in Christ to do good works, so while it denies that we can earn our salvation as the result of works, being a doer of good works in obedience to God's law is nevertheless a central part of our salvation.

In 2 Timothys 3:15-17, Paul referred to holy Scriptures that Timothy had available to him since childhood, which could only be referring to OT Scripture because none of the books of the NT had yet been written at the time of his childhood. This means that God's law in the OT is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness that the man of God might be throughly equipped to do every good work. So it is contradictory to speak in favor of doing good works while speaking against God's law for equipping us to do every good work. It is contradictory to want to love while not wanting to obey God's law for teaching us how to love.

His Spirit Guiding and

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It is ironic how often that verse is used by people to justify wrongly dividing the word of truth.

The fact that God's law works wrath for those who refuse to submit to it is not a very good reason for refusing to submit to it.

All the law which yet should be applied is included in the laws of love which have been inscribed upon the hearts of all who believe Jesus Yeshua..

Again, learn what Jesus Yeshua has taught us all and you will know this is so, for He has taught us by His Example and His supffering and His triumph for all who truly believe Him.

If Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus said that he came to fulfill the law in contrast with saying that he came not to abolish it and he warned against relaxing the least part of the law or teaching others to relax the least part of it, so fulfilling the law does not refer to abolishing the least part of it. Rather, "to fulfill the law means "to cause God's will (as made known in the law) to be obeyed as it should be" (NAS Greek Lexicon: pleroo). Eternal instructions for how to testify about God's eternal nature can't be abolished without first abolishing God.

Hello,

"To fulfill the Law and the Prophets" means "to fulfil, i.e. to cause God's will (as made known in the law) to be obeyed as it should be, and God's promises (given through the prophets) to receive fulfilment" (NAS Greek Lexicon).

In Acts 18:18, Paul took a vow involving shaving his head and the only vow that involves doing that which is prescribed in the Bible is the Nazarite vow, which involves making offerings (Numbers 6). Likewise, in Acts 21:20-24, Paul planned to pay for the offerings of others who where under vow in order to disprove false rumors that he was speaking against obeying the Mosaic Law and to show that he continued to live in obedience to it. In Hebrews 8:4, it speaks about offerings that we still being done in accordance with the Mosaic Law, so offerings did not cease with the death or resurrection of Jesus, but only ceased because of the destruction of the 2nd temple. If all of Jerusalem had repented and followed Jesus, then the 2nd temple would not have been destroyed and there would still be offerings being made in accordance with the Mosaic Law. Laws in regard to temple practice that weren't followed after the destruction of the 1st temple were once again followed after the construction of the 2nd temple, so there is nothing about the destruction of the 2nd temple that means that these laws have been replaced, but rather they will be followed once again when another temple is constructed (Ezekiel 40-46).

In the meantime, Jews teach that forgiveness is obtained through repentance, prayer, and good deeds.

Hosea 14:3
Take words with you
And return to GOD.
Say:
“Forgive all guilt
And accept what is good;
Instead of bulls we will pay
[The offering of] our lips.

Likewise, prayer was used to attain forgiveness in 1 Kings 8:46-50:

“When they sin against You—for there is no mortal who does not sin—and You are angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and their captors carry them off to an enemy land, near or far; and then they take it to heart in the land to which they have been carried off, and they repent and make supplication to You in the land of their captors, saying: ‘We have sinned, we have acted perversely, we have acted wickedly,’ and they turn back to You with all their heart and soul, in the land of the enemies who have carried them off, and they pray to You in the direction of their land that You gave to their ancestors, of the city that You have chosen, and of the House that I have built to Your name—oh, give heed in Your heavenly abode to their prayer and supplication, uphold their cause, and pardon Your people who have sinned against You for all the transgressions that they have committed against You. Grant them mercy in the sight of their captors that they may be merciful to them.

Prayer services are also designed to parallel the temple service. Nineveh was forgiven and spared destruction because they repented and fasted, which did not including having offerings. There were also other types of offerings that did not involve the slaughter of animals and that had nothing to do with sin. The point of the sacrificial system and the rest of the Torah is to testify about Christ, so we should live in a way that testifies about him by obeying it rather than a way that bears false witness against him by refusing to obey it.

Thank you for answering, I understand much better. Many things had eluded me.

Blessings.

But if you haven’t made the appropriate sacrifice, you haven’t obeyed the Law and remain a sinner.

Why does it make sense to you to think that a just God demands obedience to laws even when they can't be obeyed? There are examples in the Bible of people being forgiven without offering sacrifices.