The Torah was Kept Throughout the New Testament

Did you know the Torah was kept throughout the New Testament? Yes, those same Old Testament commandments that many of us today have been quick to dismiss as "done away with," or just vague principles for life, were still be honored even after the Messiah ascended into Heaven.

One example of this is that the Messiah always kept the Sabbath day and so did his followers - even after he was no longer with them! Many of us have made the incorrect assumption that because religious leaders made accusations against them that they weren't following the Torah. But that's not the case. If we study Scripture we see that while Yahusha and the disciples often set aside manmade Jewish traditions, they never violated Biblical law! 

Another example of Biblical law being kept throughout the New Testament is that Peter said he had never once eaten anything that the Bible says we shouldn't. This was years after the Messiah ascended into Heaven...and Peter was still following Biblical food laws.

The New Testament also gives special respect to the Torah when it defines sin as the breaking of the Bible's commandments. 1 John tells us that sin is when we violate the Torah's instructions!

These are just a few of the many examples of the Torah being kept and honored throughout the New Testament, both by the Messiah and by his followers even years after his death. While many people are quick to say that the Torah is an Old Testament thing that no longer applies, we should take time to study Scripture for ourselves to see if that is true or not!

Related posts:
Torah Keeping in the New Covenant
A Hebraic Perspective on Peter's Vision
Commandments or Traditions - Understanding the New Testament

The Summary of the Torah

A summary is a shortened, condensed version of something. A summary of Lord of the Rings would be, "Good and evil collide in a quest to destroy the ring of power." Obviously, there is more to the story, as roughly half a million words in the books and twelves hours of film attest to. But still, it's not a bad description for a mere thirteen words.

Recently Galatians 5:14 was given to me as a reason for not keeping Scripture's instructions. It says:

The whole of the Torah is summed up in one sentence: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

The person elaborated that if he simply 'loved his neighbor' he would be keeping the general idea of the Bible without being bothered with the technicalities of specific instructions.

If Peter Jackson had chosen to base the Lord of the Rings movies solely on the summary of the books, "Good and evil collide in a quest to destroy the ring of power," his films would undoubtedly have very little in common with the original story penned by JRR Tolkien. Aragon and Gandalf and the Shire would have been left out. The battles fought would have been different. The ring would have been destroyed by ten female dwarves, or whatever else. Sure, he might have made a good versus evil movie, but it wouldn't be Lord of the Rings. Jackson and his team opted to base the films on the whole of the books and not just a simple summary. Otherwise it would have been impossible to accurately portray the story as told in the book.

The Torah is filled with specific instructions. This takes out the guess work for us. How do we actually love our neighbors? The Bible commands us not to sleep with their husband/wife, to return lost property o the owner, to pay our workers on time, and to treat litigants equally in court, among other things. We don't have to stop here, but can we love our neighbors if we aren't following these instructions?

If we love our neighbors we should treat them the way the Torah instructs.

Related posts:
Departing From Torah Breaking
How Much of the Torah Do Believers Already Keep?

Understanding Galatians