Why Biblical Law is For All Believers (And Not Just Jews)

I used to think that Biblical law and keeping the commandments were only expected of Jewish people, and I hear this echoed all the time. Statements like, "I don't have to do that because I'm not Jewish," "God only wants the Jewish people to keep the food laws," "Gentiles are not under the law because of Jesus," or "Those things are just for Jews," show up in my comment section all the time. If we only listen to manmade religious doctrines, this is easy to accept as truth. But if we take a look at what Scripture actually says we will find this is not the case! All believers, no matter their ancestry, are expected to keep the commandments in the Bible!

Why Biblical law is not just for Jews:

-The Bible never says this. There is nothing in the Bible about the commandments being only for Jewish people. In fact, until the New Testament Jewish people barely get a mention in Scripture. Seriously, go reread the whole thing. You will not find a phrase like that in there. There are no instructions from YHWH about limiting the gift of his word, or the expectations of keeping his commandments to Jewish people.

-The Bible expressly says Biblical law is not just for the Israelites, but also for foreigners. Exodus 12:49, "There is one Torah for the native-born and for the stranger who sojourns among you." There was no such thing as Judaism in Exodus, so this verse does not somehow mean that the Torah is only for you if you convert to Judaism or live around Jews. It's talking about people from any part of the world joining YHWH's people by serving him. No matter where you are from, the same set of commandments apply to you.

-There were no Jews present when Biblical law was given. Not a single person in Genesis through Deuteronomy (when Biblical law was given) considered themselves to be Jewish. Not one. While the tribe of Judah was present, so were eleven other tribes! We must understand that Scripture's use of Israelite is not interchangeable with the term Judaism today. There are Jews today who did have ancestors present when Biblical law was given, but many other people groups also have ancestors who were given Biblical law!

-The New Testament says there are neither Jews nor Gentiles. I really can't imagine why this statement from Galatians 3:28 would be included in Scripture if YHWH was going to hold different people groups to different standards. Recognizing this verse makes it seem rather silly to say, "God doesn't hold me to that standard because I'm a gentile"!

-The Messiah was never impressed with claims of antecedence. John the Baptist's words in Luke 3:8, "Prove by the way that you live that you have repented from sins and turned to God. Don't just say to each other, 'We're safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.' That means nothing, for I tell you that God can create children of Abraham from these very stones." The Messiah did not count relations to Abraham as some sort of extra credit or bonus. His response to those who were relying on their physical relations to Abraham was that wasn't enough, their actions should reflect that. He said that Abraham's children would do what Abraham did (John 8:39).

-Most of us don't really know where we are from. Even if you believe that Biblical law is only for those who descended physically from the Israelites who were freed from Egypt, how do you know that none of your ancestors were there? Most of us are lucky to know anything about our ancestors after the most recent five or six generations. There is simply no way of knowing for sure whether you had ancestors there or not!

Recognizing that the Living God gave one set of instructions for all people, wherever they may be from physically or whatever their religious background is, means that we should strive to honor him by keeping his commandments! Yes, we are all sinners and won't do it perfectly. But no parent would ever say that since their children won't be able to always keep their instructions perfectly, they don't expect them to bother trying. YHWH is honored by our efforts to keep his instructions, even when we fall short.

Related posts:
Why the Biblical Holidays are For All Believers
Basics of Biblical Law
Commandments or Traditions - Understanding the New Testament

Was Everyone in the Bible Jewish?

Did you know that most of the people in the Bible weren't Jewish? A lot of people don't realize this fact, and discussing any sort of Biblical commandment beyond, 'Thou shall not kill,' I hear this phrase a lot: Biblical law was only for the Jews.

I've started asking a simple question - who are the Jews? - in response to this statement. The responses mention rabbis, those living in the modern country of Israel, people with Jewish ancestry, and, you know, all the people who are in the Bible!

Somehow most of us have been lead to believe that unless you've had a bar mitzvah and find yourself as a member of the modern Jewish religion, then God doesn't really expect you to actually do what he says.

I could not disagree more with this idea because of one simple detail. Most of the people in Scripture were not Jewish.

That's an unusual thought for most of us, but that doesn't mean it's not true. I mean no disrespect to the Jewish people. Indeed there are many people in the Bible, including the Messiah, who were from the tribe of Judah. I'm not arguing that. But we should be aware that Biblical law was given to many more people besides just one tribe of Israel.

In fact, did you know the word 'Jewish' isn't in Scripture all that much? If you do a word search, jewel or jewelry will come up far more often than the word 'Jew.' The words Jew, Jewish, or Judaism actually don't appear even once in the first five books of the Bible (the Torah), and only pop up a few times in the entire Old Testament, mostly in the book of Esther. Jeremiah uses Jew once, as does Zechariah, and it appears twice in Daniel. That's it. (Depending on the translation you're using.)

But, you may be saying, the people of Judah became the Jews. But please note, that does not mean everyone in Scripture.

We've talked briefly before about the fact that Abraham wasn't a Jew. Jacob's son Judah could arguably be referred to as the first Jew, though that's a stretch. I don't call my sister a Jordanite, just Jordan. Anyway, let's take a look at some other famous non-Jews in the Bible.

In addition to Abraham and Sarah, everyone before Judah was not Jewish. Including Adam and Eve, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob, Leah, and Rachel, as well as Noah and his family. And realistically the people of Judah weren't referred to as Jews for centuries after Judah, the son of Jacob, lived.

Who else in the Bible wasn't Jewish.

-Moses. Yes, the very giver of the law supposedly only for Jews wasn't one himself. Moses, his brother Aaron, and their sister Miriam were from the tribe of Levi. (Exodus 2:1)

-Joshua. The man who lead Israel into the promised land was from the tribe of Ephraim. (Numbers 13:8)

-Caleb. He and Joshua were the spies that came back with the good report and were the only people from the generation that left Egypt to see the promised land. Caleb wasn't a natural born Israelite at all, but a Kenezite who chose to follow YHWH. (Joshua 14:14)

-Rahab. She assisted the Israelite spies in Jericho, but was not an Israelite herself. She is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. (Joshua 2:1, Matthew 1:5)

-Gideon. He was the judge who fought in battle to liberate Israel from the Midianites, from the tribe of Manasseh. (Judges 6:15)

-Samson. Israel's most famous judge was from the tribe of Dan. (Judges 13:2)

-Samuel. Israel's last judge and a prophet came from the territory of Ephraim and was raised in the Tabernacle by a Levite. (1 Samuel 1:1)

-Saul. The first king of Israel came from the tribe of Benjamin. (1 Samuel 9:1)

-Ruth. King David's great-grandmother was from Moab. (Ruth 1:4)

-Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Both prophets were from families of Levitical priests. Jeremiah's family resided in the land of Benjamin, and Ezekiel lived in Babylonian exile. (Jeremiah 1:1, Ezekiel 1:3)

-Obadiah. In addition to writing the book of his name, Obadiah hid a hundred prophets from Jezebel and Ahab. Scripture doesn't say for sure but since he worked in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, we have no reason to believe he was from Judah. (1 Kings 18)

-Micah. Being from Moresheth he was not a biological part of Israel, but he was still counted a member of the people of YHWH. God spoke through him to the people as well. (Micah 1:1)

-Elijah. Described as Tishbite from Gilead, Elijah was from one of the ten northern tribes, and not Judah. (1 Kings 17:1)

-Elisha. He was from a city called Abel-meholah in the Northern Kingdom of Israel and was from one of the northern tribes. (1 Kings 19:16)

This list is by no means exhausting. The tribal ancestry of most of the characters in the Bible is not listed. This is also not to say that those grated in or from a different tribe are better or worse than those from Judah. There are exploits of faith and sins attributed to those from Judah and Ephraim. There is no racial superiority in the Kingdom of Heaven, and God does not give different commandments depending on your family tree.

As one of from the tribe of Benjamin wrote in Galatians 3:28, "There is neither Jew nor Gentile...for you all are one in the Messiah Yahusha." In other words, it is irrelevant if you were born Jewish or from another tribe or if you're a foreigner altogether. The Messiah makes his people one. Regardless of your genealogy, all believers are grafted in YHWH's people Israel.

Related posts:
Why Biblical Law is for All Believers
The Two Houses: Israel and Judah in Scripture
Why Paul Withstood Peter in Galatians 2