Did Yeshua abolish or remove any commandments from his Law? And what happens if we teach and act like he did?
"Mat 5:17 Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill.
Mat 5:18 For truly I say to you, Till the heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled.
Mat 5:19 Therefore whoever shall relax one of these commandments, the least, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven. But whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven."
Many religions, and denominations teach that Yeshau (Jesus) our Messiah did away with the Law. I was at one time one of these teachers. I was lead to believe and even taught others this theology born from mans fallen nature. And to be honest, I never gave Scriptures like Matthew chapter five through seven a chance to sink in. When I read them I would scan over the Scriptures because someone else had already given me the meaning of these verses so I didn’t need to waste my time focusing on them. Do you ever end up having this same problem? We read and scan over the Bible instead of study it. Sometimes it was almost like I needed to get the reading or good deed out of the way, so I could get back to my life. I felt as if the reading of Scripture was a chore, and I needed to get through it as fast as possible. I read Matthew 5:17 many times and never got past the word fulfilled. I fell into the traditional view that this is where Matthew 5 ended. Because it obviously says fulfilled, that means it was finished right? But thankfully I was lead away from the traditional thinking behind these scriptures and really read what was being said, and finally started to put them in context with the rest of our Holy Bible. Here Yeshua our Messiah himself is teaching. ( Mat 5:17 Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill.) I used to read this and think it said I did not come to destroy the law but to do away with it. Right of the bat I had a problem. Because it makes Yehsua’s teaching's contradictory. I did not come to destroy, but to destroy? It doesn’t add up. But as I said before I would stop there and not go any further in the verse. And it is the next two verses that explain what he is speaking of. The next verse states ( Mat 5:18 For truly I say to you, Till the heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled. ) Till Heaven and Earth pass away. As I look around I still see heaven and earth, so if Heaven and earth are still around what is Yeshua speaking of?
(Rev 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Rev 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
Rev 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.")
Yeshua is speaking of the finial fulfillment of all things. Contrary to popular belief. A belief I once held by the way. All things were not fulfilled on the Cross. The final restoration did not happen on the Cross, but an integral part of the restoration that was Started immediately after the Fall of man. It is not until the final restoration of the New Heaven and the New Earth that all will be fulfilled. And even then God’s will for us will not change. The change isn’t in God it is in men!!! Now Yeshua continues in this verse and sates very plainly that not one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled (New Heaven and New Earth).
And in the very next verse we are given a warning (Mat 5:19 Therefore whoever shall break one of these commandments, the least, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven. But whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven.) Whoever shall break the least of the commandments shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. We really need to take this to heart. Because if all sin is equal outside of Blasphemy (out right denial of God) then how are we to know which is the least of these commandments? But the warning continues with (and teach men so), this is one of those scripture that when I finally read it in context made me sit up and think. How many theologies and doctrines of the religious system I was in, did I use to teach this very thing? How much of what I was teaching led others away from the Will of God. I implore all those reading this to sit back and do the same with a prayerful heart.
Right after the warning We are given Hope. For those of us who do follow the Will of God in our lives and teach other to do so also will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. I so long to hear my Fathers voice. And when I hear it, I am trying to make sure He is pleased with me and that I could have the great honor of being called a faithful servant of the Lord our God. This is a simple statement on how to accomplish this very thing. And as with all other scripture I intend to do everything in my power to make it a reality in my life. How about you?
Now it is time to address the next question. Did Paul abolish or remove any commandment from the Law? (Rom 3:31 Do we then make the Law void through faith? Let it not be! But we establish the Law. ) So many point to Paul as I once did. When we in our nature try to do away with the Will of God in our lives. We do not want to be under the rule of anyone, even if that one is our creator. It is our fallen nature to rail against the Will of our God. With that said we have to ask ourselves if Paul really taught that the Law was no more how do we explain verses like Roman 3:31 and so many others like it? So lets ask the question if Paul didn’t do away with the Law then how did he feel about it. And to get our answer, as with all things we must go to scripture. (Rom 7:7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." ) Here Paul explain as in the earlier post that the Law defines what is Sin. (Rom 7:12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.) Here Paul sates plainly that the Law is Holy righteous and Good. ( Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.)
Now Paul is teaching that the Law is Spiritual, but we are the ones of the flesh and sold under sin. In other words the Law (Will of God, Definition of Sin, Torah) is not the problem our sinful flesh is the problem. We seem to always want to blame God. We justify our own actions and in doing so do everything imaginable to remove the Will of God from our lives. In order to grow and gain a closer Spiritual walk with our Messiah we need to acknowledge this in our lives and die to our carnal self daily . (Gal 6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.) If we bear one another's burdens then we are living in the Law.
( Rom 7:16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ) Here Paul is in agreement with the Law because the Law is against the carnal flesh. Paul is teaching the basics of the Law. Just as our Messiah did in order to lead us to a fuller understanding and observance of the Law.
I used to ignore these Passages and the many others like them in scripture. Such as (Acts 21:20-24; 24:14-17; 25:8; 26:22-23; 28:17-20 and Psalm 100:5; 103:17-18; Mal. 4:1-6; Mt. 5:17-19; 7:12; 19:17; Lk. 10:26; 16:17, 29; 1st Cor. 7:17-19; 11:1-2; Rom. 3:31; 7:7, 12, 14, 16, 22, 25; 8:7; 2nd Thess. 2:15? (traditions/customs may equal the Law; see Acts 6:13; 15:1, 5; 26:3; 28:17); James 2:8-11; 4:11-12; 1st Jn. 3:4; 5:3; 2nd Jn. 1:6; Rev. 12:17; 14:12.)
I would use some traditional view to justify what I was plainly reading. I would say “well that is what it says here, but over here I think it says something else, and that’s the one I'm going to go with”. We cannot continue to gain our understanding in this manor. We need to read scripture for what it is saying. We have to stop implanting our own theologies and wills into the Word of God. We must stop trying to prove our points and simply seek the truth in Scripture. We must look at scripture with an understanding that there are no contradictions. Paul did not say all of these wonderful things about the Law, and following it in our lives, to just in the next chapter of the book contradict everything he had said earlier!
So now we can ask the question, if Paul did feel that the Law was to be kept did he actually follow it? So lets once again look to scripture for our answer
Act 21:21 and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs.
Act 21:22 What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.
Act 21:23 Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow;
Act 21:24 take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law.
Here we see an example in scripture of the very same problem many have today. People wondering if Paul did in fact keep the commandments? Many according to scripture falsely believed that Paul’s teaching’s were against the Will of God (His Law, Torah, Commandments). Yet we must really look at this scripture. Pay close attention, it sates plainly that the accusations of Paul not keeping the commandments, and his teaching others to also break the Law were false. Paul kept the commandments, and he taught others to do so. This is after the death burial and resurrection of our Messiah. This is after the events of the cross. Here Paul goes to James for advice. Just as today many people were under the false impression that Paul’s Gospel was against the Law. And to prove that he, and his teachings were not against the Law. He agrees to take part in what is believed to be the Nazzarite Vow. He did this to show (“Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law”. ) Did Paul follow and teach others to keep the Law? YES He Did!!! This is the context we have to put all of Paul’s writings in. Once we look at these simple and plain truths we can then go on to put the rest of his writings in the proper context. Not just in context of the verses around them, or in the Chapter it is in, or in the Letter it is in. But in the Context of all other writings inspired by the Holy Spirit form Genesis to Revelation. We need to begin to study scripture in its entirety instead of acting as if 70% of our Holy scripture doesn’t apply to us.
I had to come to an understanding that was very hard to admit. I was wrong, and worse I was leading others astray. This was not an easy thing to do. Thankfully I was not alone, I was lead to this revelation through the Holy Spirit, Yeshua was with me the whole way. I had to realize that to teach that the Law was done away with, meant that only one of the following possibilities were correct.
1.Yehusa was wrong
2. Yeshua Lied
3. God changed his mind
4. Maybe in my carnal nature I have something wrong.
When faced with a contradiction in scripture this is the process I have to look at. And every time I have found that the problem has lied with me. God is not wrong! God does not Lie! God does not change his mind! We are always 100% of the time the problem. Once I could understand these simple truths the Bible opened up to me in ways I never imagined were possible. As Always I pray that we can all go forth and seek the truth in God’s word with eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the Glory of Yeshua our Messiah.
