Jewish Roots (Part 6)

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Jewish Roots (Part 6)

Paul's Perspective on Torah Observance for Christians is explored by Steve Gregg in this segment of his series on Jewish Roots. Gregg discusses how Paul saw the unity of believers in Christ, regardless of their adherence to the Torah. He explains that Paul allowed Christian Jews to continue observing the Torah based on their conscience, but emphasized that it is not necessary for Gentile Christians. Gregg highlights Paul's view on the new covenant superseding the old covenant and how the Torah served as a tutor leading to Christ. He also addresses the misconception of keeping the commandments versus being lawless as taught by Jesus.

Transcript

In this session we're going to talk about Paul, and he's the one who had the most to say of any biblical writer on the subject of Torah observance and Christians. Now, clearly Paul addressed virtually all of his teaching to Gentile Christians, though he understood there was no distinction between Jews and Gentiles. And therefore what Paul says to the churches, he's writing to churches that are predominantly Gentile in their demographics, and he's writing to them about issues in many cases that matter to the Gentile Christians, especially.

But when Paul wrote to the Gentile churches, he was writing to mixed racial churches. There were Jews in there as well as Gentiles, almost all Gentiles, but some Jews too. And because of that, the instructions he gives to Gentiles are applicable to all Christians, because Paul did not recognize any distinction between Jew and Gentile in the church.

In Christ there is no Jew or Gentile. And although sometimes people have said, well, there's a functional difference between Jews and Gentiles, there's just no difference in redemption. This is a distinction that the Bible doesn't make.

The Bible doesn't ever talk about a functional difference of Jews and Gentiles. Paul just sees one body. He sees two blended into one new man, with the middle wall of distinction broken down that divided them before.

What Paul teaches Gentiles could be applicable to Jews also. Now, however, when Paul came to Jerusalem in the book of Acts, his final visit there, James confronted Paul and said, there are many brethren here who are zealous for the law. They've heard that you're telling Jews not to be circumcised.

And so that they might know that this is a false report, we're asking you to do certain things like pay the fees for some Nazarites and so forth. We won't go into that right now. And Paul did what James said.

In other words, James was confirming that it was a false report. Paul wasn't telling Jews not to be circumcised. What would be the point of that? They were already circumcised.

Paul never met an uncircumcised Jew, nor did anyone else. Jews were circumcised when they're eight days old. By the time Paul had anything to say to them, they had been circumcised for years.

Why tell them to be circumcised or not to be? It was a non-issue in addressing Jews, but in addressing Gentiles, it was an issue, not only because they were not circumcised and therefore could be swayed to do one thing or the other that way, but because being circumcised when you're not already circumcised is buying into a whole religious system of law. That's what Paul tells the Galatians. If you are circumcised, you are obligated to keep the whole law.

Now, he doesn't mean that a Jewish Christian who was already circumcised before he was a Christian is still as a Christian obligated to keep the whole law. He's saying if you as a Gentile get circumcised, if you take that step now, then you are affirming that you believe the law is in force or else why would you do it? You wouldn't get circumcised except to become a Jew. And therefore you are by being circumcised affirming that you think you are under the law.

And you have to realize there's 613 of those laws. If you get circumcised, you're putting yourself under all the laws. That's what Paul said.

And he insisted that Gentiles not do that. He even said they were falling away from Christ if they did that. He didn't say quite the same things to Jews only because, as I said, the question of them being circumcised or not was a done deal.

It was a moot point. They were already circumcised. Now that they had become Christians, they could keep the law or not because it was not part of the Christian faith to keep the law of Moses.

But there was really nothing evil in keeping the Torah and therefore Paul never tried to mess with the Jews about that. If the Christian Jews wanted to keep the Torah, Paul allowed it. We know this because in Romans chapter 14, addressing the church in Rome, he acknowledged there were people with Jewish sense theories and people without Jewish sense theories in the church.

No doubt there were Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians and they were the different people that had the problems. Some believed they should keep one day holy. Some believed they could keep every day alike.

Certainly the Jews would have thought if they had Jewish sense theories that they should keep one day holy. But the Gentile Christians apparently didn't go for that because they weren't Jews. Also there were some in the church who were restricting their diet probably to abstain from blood and from meat, saffron, and idols.

But others didn't have scruples about that. And when Paul addressed this, he said in the church you have both groups. Just let everyone do what they have a conscience to do.

Don't judge each other. Don't despise each other. Just let each other have liberty.

So in other words, Paul was not telling Jews if they wished to keep Sabbath and they're Christians that they shouldn't do so or that they shouldn't keep a kosher diet or that they shouldn't be circumcised. That was not part of his interest. There's no sin in keeping a Sabbath.

There's no sin in keeping a kosher diet. So why should Paul restrict it? Why put a special burden on the Jews who wanted to avoid pork? I have to say I've never been a Jew and I've never been under the Jewish diet. And I do like bacon.

But sometimes when I eat bacon, I still feel like this is a pig I'm eating. It's not an issue about clean and unclean animals. It's just more like repulsive animals.

If you were raised Jewish thinking pork is totally unclean, you might never get over that when you became a Christian. To me, eating scorpions is repulsive. People in Japan do it.

And as far as I know, it's not a sin to eat a scorpion. God told Noah, everything that moves shall be food for you. So insects, I mean, there's protein in them too.

Lots of people eat insects. But to me, eating a scorpion, I don't think I would ever do that. But it's not because of legalism.

It's because of taste and sensitivities and things that I find gross. And many of the Jews, of course, having been raised as they were, would find it gross to eat lobster or clams or pork or lizards or whatever. I mean, they just see that repulsive.

Gentiles, not so much. So Paul just said, if you want to restrict your diet, go ahead. That's okay.

And those who eat more broadly should not condemn those who want to restrict their diet. But those who do restrict their diet should not condemn those who don't. This was probably a difference in sensitivities between the Jewish and the Gentile Christians, but Paul didn't have special instructions for the Jews in the church and special instructions for the Gentiles.

He just said, do what you want. Do what your conscience tells you that you should do. And don't worry about it and don't judge each other.

So Paul never did address Jews and tell them, stop keeping the law. It's okay if they want to, as long as they understand that it doesn't matter to God. It's just something that they feel more comfortable doing.

It's a habit. There's no sin in it. And they're already circumcised, so what the heck? Now, but the Gentiles were not circumcised.

They were not keeping the law. They never had. If they started doing it now that they were Christians, that's showing confusion in their mind as to who's really in charge.

Is it Moses who gave these laws or is it Jesus who didn't repeat these laws? Remember, Jesus said, go and make disciples, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. Disciples are taught to obey what Jesus commands. Jesus said in John 8 31, if you continue in my words, you are my disciples.

Indeed, if you read the words of Jesus and keep them, you're a disciple of his. But if you do read the words of Jesus and keep them, you won't necessarily observe a Sabbath because Jesus never said to do that. You won't observe dietary restrictions because Jesus didn't say to do that.

You won't make pilgrimages to Jerusalem because he never taught his disciples to do that. In other words, you will not be doing the same things the Jews are doing necessarily because they're doing what Moses said and we're doing what Jesus said. In fact, the Jews themselves defined the issue that way with the man who was born blind.

Remember in John chapter nine, Jesus told him to go wash the mud out of his eyes and his sight would come. And when he did so, it was the Sabbath day. What Jesus told him to do and what Jesus himself did was considered to be a sin on the Sabbath.

And the Jews brought this man before them and he told him what happened. He said, and they wanted him to repeat it. He said, why do you want me to repeat it? Do you want to become one of his disciples too? And they said, you are his disciple.

We are Moses' disciples. See, that's the issue here. Are we Jesus' disciples or are we Moses' disciples? Is it Moses or Jesus who gives us our instructions? If a Christian begins to say, I need to do what Moses commanded or what God commanded through Moses.

Well, whatever happened to Jesus' authority that outstrips that of Moses. When Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus and to the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, they gave their endorsement to Jesus. Then they vanished.

Peter had said, let's build three tabernacles, one for Moses, one for Elijah, one for Jesus. Let's keep them all here. But that wasn't God's intention.

Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets, they were going away. Jesus was staying. And once they were invisible and had vanished and only Jesus was there, the voice from heaven said, this is my son, listen to him.

He's the one you're supposed to heed now. You saw Moses, you saw Elijah, the law and the prophets. You've been listening to them all your life, you Jewish disciples.

They're gone now. We've got Jesus now. Now you listen to him.

What God said through Moses was not the same as what God said through Jesus. Although it was good what Moses said, but it was applicable in an old covenant. Jesus made a new covenant and what he teaches now is what we're required to do.

That's what Paul believed and we'll see that. If you look at Philippians chapter 3, Paul talks about how before he was a Christian, he was a very observant Jew, very Torah observant. In verse 4, Philippians 3, 4, Paul said, though I also might have confidence in the flesh, he means by his flesh the observance of the Torah.

If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so, circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He had Hebrew roots to be sure. Concerning the law, the Torah of Pharisees, that means I was like the most Torah observant there was in the Jewish religion.

Concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. I was very Torah observant. I kept the laws blamelessly.

But he says in verse 7, but what things were gained to me, meaning all this Torah observance, all this circumcision, all this Jewish background, all my Jewish roots, all those things that were gained to me then, I don't see them as so good now. He says I've counted them a loss for Christ. He says I gave them up in order to follow Christ.

Verse 8, but indeed I do also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them as rubbish that I might gain Christ. Now it's a matter of stay in the law forms of righteousness or go with Jesus. He says I'm going with Jesus and I'm not even, my heart's not even jerked back there.

That, what I'm leaving behind, it's rubbish compared to Jesus. Now Paul is not saying that Torah observance is rubbish in itself. He's saying compared to following Jesus, it's rubbish.

Following Jesus is that much superior to keeping the law of Moses. Any other rules, any other religion, any other set of duties, any other master, any other lawgiver than Jesus, whatever they say compared to what Jesus said, it's rubbish. He's not saying that what Jesus said is morally superior to what Moses said by such a great degree, but that Jesus himself is that much superior to Moses.

And the new covenant is that much superior to the old covenant. Remember it says in Hebrews 8 that the new covenant was superior to the old covenant in that it was based on better promises. But it's got a better Lord, it's got a better high priest, he's entered into a better sanctuary.

Jesus is all points better than the Old Testament. And Paul says I was as Torah observant as a man could be under the old covenant. But that now, I look at that as rubbish, I gave it up, I lost it, but gave it up in order to gain Christ instead.

And so Paul did not seem to indicate that Torah observance was of great value to him as a Christian. He said in fact, in Colossians chapter 2, that such practices have no value in subduing the flesh. That is your fleshly tendencies which are governed by sin.

In Colossians chapter 2, verse 20-23, Paul said, Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles, we're going to talk about that word basic principles in a moment, of the world, why as though living in the world do you subject yourselves to regulations? And he gives an example, do not touch, do not taste, do not handle. Those are the Torah regulations. You don't eat certain things, you don't touch certain things.

Why do you do that? Why do you subject yourself to these regulations if you died with Christ from these basic principles? Which we'll say more about in a moment, of the world. He says, which all concern things which perish with the using. That's it.

Clean and unclean things, all of them are perishable. They're not eternal things. God is not concerned with that which is not eternal.

He's concerned with that is. These rules all have to do with perishable things, temporal things. He says, according to the commandments and doctrines of men.

Now some people think because he talks about the commandments and doctrines of men that he's not talking about the Jewish law because that was the commandment of God given through Moses, not of men. However, Paul has made it very clear that since Jesus has come, any teaching that you must keep the law is a commandment of men. The law was God's word to Israel under the old covenant.

It is not God's word to Christians in the new covenant. Those who say it is are teaching a doctrine of men. It's a commandment that men are giving you, not God.

That's what he's saying. These things, meaning these rules, indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility and neglect of the body, but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. Putting yourself under these rules makes you feel religious, makes you feel humble, makes you feel righteous, but in fact, it doesn't change who you are.

Your problem is in your flesh. Your problem is sin in your members. Your problem is that you are fallen and have inward problems with sin.

These outward behaviors don't change anything about who you are inwardly. The Pharisees could keep all the rules outwardly, but inside they were like whitewashed tombs, white and clean on the outside, inside full of dead men's bones and all corruption. Outward observance of rules like these has no impact on your inward spirituality is what Paul is saying, which is why he no longer valued that.

He talks about the same subject about the law's inability to help you overcome sin. Again, in Romans chapter 7, actually it was written earlier than Colossians, but nonetheless it's a second passage on the subject for us to look at right now. In Romans 7, verses 7 through 11, Paul said, What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Is the Torah sin? Certainly not.

On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the Torah, for I would not have known covetousness unless the law, the Torah, had said you should not covet. So my familiarity with the Torah gave me a greater understanding of what sin is. If I hadn't known the Torah, I would be sinning, but I wouldn't know I was sinning because I wouldn't know what sin is.

The Torah defined it for me. When the Torah said you should not covet, I suddenly realized, oh, I know what covetousness is. That's a sin now.

It's forbidden. Verse 8, But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire, for apart from the law, sin was dead. So not only do these laws not deliver me from the sins of my flesh, they give sin that is already in me an opportunity, an occasion to be riled up, to be stirred up, and to bring about, produce in me, manner of evil desire.

Because fallen human nature does not respond well to authority imposed. Laws are imposed authority. He's saying, you know, the law might do more for us if we weren't such rebels, but we are rebels by nature.

And rebels by nature flare up when you tell them what to do. You see this all the time. When you make a request to someone, they don't want to do this.

You can't tell me what to do. You know, I mean, I don't have to obey you. Now, in fact, maybe they do.

Maybe they should. But it's that rebel nature that says, I don't want anyone telling me what to do. I want to be free.

I want to be self-governed and so forth. Well, as soon as God comes along and says, don't do this, don't do that, that rebel nature in us says, I don't want to obey that. And sometimes the very thing that's forbidden, all of a sudden I want to do because I was forbidden.

I didn't think about it before that. It wasn't in my mind to do that. But when someone said, I can't, then suddenly I want to prove that they're wrong.

Suddenly I have all these desires to do things I didn't even care to do before because laws tell me not to do them. This is what Paul says happens. That sin, which is in me already, takes opportunity by the commandment.

That is by the commandments in the law. And sin therefore produced in me through the law all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law, sin was dead.

I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. So the Torah, living under the Torah, didn't bring life.

Living under the Torah brought death and condemnation, he said. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good.

But of course he goes on to say in verse 14, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. There's nothing wrong with the law in itself. It's just that it doesn't do anything to change a carnal person.

A person who has sin in their nature. The law just doesn't affect that, except to rouse it, except to cause new ideas of rebellion to arise when people hear it. So that's why Paul didn't see any value in putting law upon people.

The law of Moses just put laws on people who didn't ever make them behave. You read the Old Testament, when did the Jews ever really behave? They had law from the very outside of the founding of their nation, but when did they ever really obey it? When did they ever fully stop, you know, worshiping idols and committing adultery and stealing and coveting? The law said they shouldn't, but that didn't stop them. Paul says, hey, those rules, they don't have any power in restricting or subduing the sin of the flesh.

He said that in Colossians 2, 23, and he said it in another way in Romans 7. Now, I mentioned we should say something about this word, basic principles, because in Colossians 2, verse 20, Paul refers to the law of commandments as the basic principle. He says we've died with Christ from the basic principles of the world. What does the word basic principles mean? Basic principles in the Greek language is the word stoicheia.

Stoicheia, S-T-O-I-C-H-E-I-A. This word is found many times in Paul's writings. Some translations translate it as basic principles, sometimes it's translated as basic elements.

But what does it mean? It's actually a reference in the Greek language to the alphabet, the ABCs. And many commentators say what Paul's really saying is what he's calling the basic elements are just the alphabet, which a child learns. Now, everyone has to learn the alphabet or they'll be illiterate.

You can't read or spell or write unless you know the alphabet, but children can learn the alphabet. It's the basic elements of literacy. Learning your ABCs happens in kindergarten before you ever learn how to read.

But it's a prerequisite for it. And he's saying the laws that we were under before, those laws that God gave, they were the basic ABCs of spirituality. God was kind of teaching what the rules are, what righteousness looks like, but it really didn't teach people beyond that how to live a righteous life.

It was basically the instructions given to a child, and that's what the basic stoicheia refers to. The law was essentially for people in a childish state, spiritually speaking. And Paul develops that further in the book of Galatians.

In Galatians chapter 4, he also uses the word stoicheia. In Galatians 4, first of all, verses 1 through 4, he says, Now I say that the heir, as long as he's a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is the master of all. That he's going to inherit his father's estate, but when he's a child, he doesn't have any power.

He's just like a slave in the house until he grows up. And it says, but he's under guardians and stewards until the appointed time by the father. So even though he's the child and heir of everything, he's still treated more or less like a slave because he's a little kid and he's kept under guardians and school teachers and things like that, babysitters, nannies, until he outgrows that.

Verse 3, even so, we, when we were children, were in bondage under the stoicheia of the world. Now, we would be he and his readers. Paul was a Jew.

Most of them were Gentiles. He was under the stoicheia of the world under the Jewish law. That was the stoicheia, the ABCs that he learned.

They had learned other things. They had not learned the law because they were Gentiles, but they had been taught basic principles of behavior, which now had to be, you know, improved on. What they knew as pagans was not mature spirituality.

Even if they were religious in the pagan religions, they may have learned some ideas, like what animal sacrifice is and things like that because pagans did that. There may have even been some moral teaching in them, but those were just the ABCs. Before we were Christians, we were under the stoicheia.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive adoption of sons, as we might receive the inheritance as a mature son. We were kept under guardians, which was in his case the law, until maturity came, until Jesus came. The coming of Jesus brought the mature form of spirituality that God always intended because Jesus gives us his Spirit to transform us and to give us a new life and to guide us into a way of holiness.

Now, a little further down in the same passage, in verse 9 through 11, he says, but now, after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly stoicheia, to which you desire again to be embodied? He's talking about the law. The Galatians, what they were doing was going into circumcision and Jewish law. And he gives an example of what they do.

He says in verse 10, you observe days and months and seasons and years, just like the Hebrew roots people say we should. Keeping the holidays, keeping the festivals. That's what the Galatians were starting to do.

They were getting circumcised. They were keeping the Jewish ceremonies. You observe days, months, seasons, and years.

He calls that the stoicheia, that you're going back to to be in bondage to them. And he says in verse 11, I'm afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. In other words, I preached the gospel to you so you'd be saved.

Now it's looking like maybe it was for nothing because you're going away from the gospel and into another religion, which is Judaism. Judaism is a different religion than Christianity. If you go into Buddhism or Hinduism, you are just the same, going into another religion.

Christianity is a life, an ethic, a kingdom, unique. Every religion, whether it's Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, is something different. He says, I brought you to Christ.

Now you're going into this other religion. And it's really turning back to the basic ABCs. When you go into the law, you're going back to childhood, going back to the stuff you learned as a baby that didn't ever bring you to maturity, didn't ever transform you.

That's what he's saying. And he says, I'm afraid that I've labored for you in vain. It's like all my labor on you has been lost if you end up going back that direction.

And also in Galatians 3, verse 23, Galatians 3, 23, Paul says, But before faith came, that's before Christ came and the Christian faith was introduced, we were kept under guard by the law, the Torah, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the Torah was our tutor. To bring us to Christ.

That we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Who's the tutor? The Torah.

If you've come to faith, you've grown up. You've outgrown the babysitter. You don't need the babysitter to keep you in line when you're an adult.

You build internal controls. You see, babies have to be taught, children have to be taught to go to the bathroom before they go to bed. They won't think to do it otherwise, and they'll wet their bed.

They'll be told to brush their teeth. It's not habitual for them. They don't even know why they should do it.

They probably wouldn't do it at all if you didn't make them. Babies, because they're foolish and unexperienced, they need external controls from parents. But every parent who raises a child is looking forward to that baby outgrowing those external controls.

How do they outgrow them? By building internal controls. A child wants to brush his teeth because he appreciates it and realizes he needs to add that to his discipline. He thinks to go to the bathroom before he goes to bed because he's learned, okay, if I don't do that, I'm going to wet the bed.

So the things that parents have to impose from outside become things that are built in his habits or his wisdom in an adult. And that's what he's saying. When we're children, we need to be kept under these guardians and tutors, the law imposed so that we don't go too wild.

It didn't make us holy, but at least it let us know that it's not okay to murder and commit adultery. Some people did it anyway, even though they're under the law, but at least some people held back from things like that because they knew it was wrong and the laws was the teacher that taught them it's wrong. But it was a teacher that was supposed to bring us to Christ.

And once we have come to Christ, we're no longer under the teacher. The law, he says, was a schoolmaster, but when faith in Christ has come, we're no longer under the schoolmaster. Paul could not be more explicit in saying Christians are not under the Torah.

It is not our teacher anymore. Faith in Christ is our teacher. The spirit of God given to us in Christ is our teacher.

The new covenant is our teacher. God writes his laws on our heart, but the laws are not the same laws. Sometimes Hebrew roots people say, well, the new covenant says that God will write his Torah on our hearts.

What's the Torah? The law of Moses. No, the Torah, the law of Moses was the Torah of the old covenant. Jeremiah is talking about a new covenant where the laws will be written on our hearts.

My laws are not the same laws. In fact, in the passage, which is Jeremiah 31, 31, God says, I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah in those days, not according to the covenant I made with their fathers when I brought them out of Egypt. In other words, the new covenant will not be the same.

It'll not be the same in a number of ways. One way it'll be written on the heart instead of externally on stones. But it's other ways, not the same either.

As we see, for example, we don't offer animal sacrifices. They were required to do so into that covenant. We don't make pilgrimages to Jerusalem.

They were required to do that. And there's lots of things. We don't support a Levitical priesthood.

They were required to do that. You see, the covenant God has made with us is not according to the old covenant. It's a new covenant.

The restrictions are different. The obligations are different. It's just a different thing altogether.

Yes, he writes his laws on our hearts, but they're not the same laws because he hasn't told me in my heart that I'm supposed to slit the throat of an animal or twist the head off a bird and burn it on an altar. That's not taught to me in my heart. The law of Christ is put in my heart by the Holy Spirit, who produces the fruit of the Spirit, which is love.

And that's the law of Christ, a new commandment I give you, that you love one another. The law of Christ is the law of love. That law of the new mediator of a new covenant is in our hearts.

He produces that. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Paul said in Romans 5. And so, until the Spirit came, which came with faith in Christ, we had to have external controls. They helped a little.

Not very much, but better than nothing. But when we develop the internal controls, when the Holy Spirit comes within and the law is written in our hearts, then we're no longer under the external controls. So Paul talks about keeping the Torah as like a little child being under a tutor because he doesn't know internally what to do until he grows mature enough to know.

It's like the ABCs we learned as children. But now we've come to maturity, why go back and study the ABCs again? Certainly we don't need to go back there. Once you know your ABCs, you can read volumes of mature books that you can learn great things from.

But you don't need to go back as an adult and go back and study the ABCs unless you never learned it in the first place. That's what he's saying, going back to the laws. It's going back to an infantile spirituality.

Something that was the best there was before Jesus came. But it's dumb. It's rubbish compared to Jesus now.

Paul, in 2 Corinthians 2, compared the law that Moses gave, written on stones, with the glow that came on Moses' face on Mount Sinai. And the comparison is that they both faded away. The law and the glow on Moses' face.

The whole of 2 Corinthians 3 discusses this. But in verses 6-8 he says, Who also made us as God, also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The Spirit in us causes us to fulfill the law of Christ. Which is to love. Not the letter of the law, but the Spirit of Christ.

But if the ministry of death, that's what he's calling the Torah. He's calling the old covenant of the Torah the ministry of death, written and engraved in stones. If anyone wonders if he's talking about the Torah, it removes all doubt.

It's written on stone. The Torah, the 10 commandments were written on stone. He calls that the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones.

It was glorious so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away. Now he's basically saying the glory that shone on Moses' face was analogous to the glory associated with the law that Moses gave. It's sort of an analogy he gives there.

And he says both were passing away. He says how much more will the ministry of the Spirit be more glorious? Then in verse 11 he says, for if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. The new covenant is what remains.

What is passing away is the law of commandments, the ministry of death engraved on stones. The law, like the glow on the face of Moses, was a temporary glory. It faded.

It was not forever just like Moses' face and the glow on it was not forever. In Romans chapter 10 and verse 4 Paul says for Christ is the end of the Torah for righteousness to everyone who believes. That'd be Jews and Gentiles.

So Paul's essentially saying even the Jews are not under the Torah, certainly not the Gentiles. But to everyone who believes, Christ is the end of the law. Now the word end is a little ambiguous because the Greek word can mean the goal toward which something is aiming or it can mean the termination of something.

Something comes to its end, its termination. If you when we say the end justifies the means, a famous English expression, sort of a proverb in English the end justifies the means, the end means the goal. You know, what is produced at the end is the goal and if it's a good goal then it justifies the means taken.

That's not a true ethic, that's an ethic Christians would not agree with, but it's nonetheless one that's often quoted. The end justifies the means. End means goal.

Outcome. Now, when Paul said Christ is the end of the law, does he mean it's the goal of the law or does it mean it's the termination of the law? The Hebrew roots people say well it's not the termination, it's the goal of the law, but that doesn't mean it ends then. Well, they could be right.

The word can mean termination or it can mean the goal. If it means termination then that makes our point finally and without question Christ is the termination of the law, he's the end of it. But what if he means the goal, as some people say? Well, that still works.

The law pointed forward to Christ like a path leads to a destination. Once you reach that goal, that destination, the path has led you to where it's supposed to bring you. The path ends at the goal.

The goal is the termination of the path. The law was the goal, Jesus was the goal of the law and once you reach Jesus the law has served its purpose. The schoolmaster can go home.

You're no longer under the schoolmaster. You've reached the goal of maturity in Christ. Paul said in Romans chapter 3 in verse 21 he says, But now the righteousness of God apart from the Torah is revealed being witnessed by the Torah and the prophets.

As even the law and the prophets, the Torah said there would be this justification by faith. At the end of chapter 3 of Romans, he asks this question, do we then make void the Torah through faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we establish the Torah.

Now, Hebrew roots people say, you see, Paul said we don't void the Torah, we establish it, we keep the Torah. No, Paul didn't say we keep it, he said we establish it. What's he mean? Well, he doesn't leave this in suspense, we just have to read the next verses.

He explains what he means. How do we, in teaching justification by faith, establish the Torah? Well, he gives an example. What should we say about Abraham our father? What has he found? If Abraham was justified by works he has something of which to boast, but not before God, but what does the scripture say? Now, the scripture he quotes is Genesis 15-6 in the Torah.

He's quoting the Torah. What does the Torah say? The Torah says Abraham believed God and it was counted him for righteousness. In other words, when I, Paul, tell you that we're justified apart from the law through faith, I'm establishing the very thing the Torah itself teaches.

It teaches that Abraham was justified by faith apart from the law. I'm just saying the same thing the Torah said. I'm not nullifying the Torah, I'm saying the Torah was right.

It taught what I'm saying. And that's why he says back in verse 21 that this is a righteousness of God apart from the Torah, but it is witnessed by the Torah and the prophets. That is, I'm teaching you that the law has come to an end as a means of righteousness.

There's a new means of righteousness and that is being in Christ. Now, although this spells the end of Torah observance, this is not something that is like adverse to the Torah. The Torah itself proclaimed the same thing.

It was witnessed by the Torah and the prophets. And we are establishing what the Torah said when we say this. He's not saying we are establishing the Torah by eating a kosher diet and keeping the festivals.

No, by preaching justification by faith. That's what he's talking about here. He says, are we justified by works or by faith? By faith.

Now, are we destroying the Torah when we say we're justified by faith? No, we're establishing what the Torah said. And I'll give you an example. In the Torah it says Abraham was justified by faith.

That's what Paul's arguing. He's not arguing that we keep the Torah but that by teaching that the Torah is no longer necessary for justification, we're just saying the same thing that the Torah anticipated. It bore witness to that very same thing.

Okay. Now, as I mentioned before, Paul did observe Torah as a evangelistic strategy. Only when he was with the people that that mattered too.

When he was with people who were not Torah observant, he didn't bother. Now, let me remember if Paul felt Christians were supposed to be Torah, and he was a Jewish Christian he was not a Gentile Christian, he was a Jew if he felt that Jewish Christians or Gentile Christians, anyone as a Christian was supposed to observe the Torah, then he would, in his own conscience, be required to do it all the time like other Jews who were under the Torah. It didn't matter if they lived in Gentile lands, they still kept the Torah.

Paul said, no I only do it when I'm with Jews. I don't do it when I'm with Gentiles. What's that mean? It means I have no obligation to do it at all.

But I do it to accommodate Jewish people so I can win them. But when I'm with Gentiles, I don't bother. Because I have no obligation to do it.

And that's what he says in 1 Corinthians 9 very importantly. Just in case we wonder whether Paul thought that he or Christians in general were under the Torah. He said in verse 19, for though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more.

This is my evangelistic strategy to win people. To the Jews I became as a Jew. That means when I'm with Jewish people, I imitate them and do what Jewish people do.

When in Rome, you know. When among Jews, be like a Jew. That I might win the Jews.

That's my only reason. Not because I have to live as a Jew. Not because that's a Christian obligation.

I don't want to offend them. He says to those who are under the law which is the same as the Jew as one under the law. So he says the same thing twice.

With those who are Jews under the law, I live like a Jew under the law. That means when I go to a Jewish household, I won't ask for pork. I won't eat what would offend the Jews.

I want to reach them, not drive them away. But then he said in verse 21 in contrast to that verse 21 to those who are without law he means the Gentiles I live as one who is without the law. Now if he thought Torah observance was mandatory, he wouldn't be able to live as one who is without the law when he's with people who are not.

That's like me saying as a Christian, I really should follow Christ. Except when I'm with people who aren't Christians and I don't follow Christ. I really shouldn't get drunk when I'm at church but I can go to the bar and get drunk because other people are drunk there.

No. Paul, if he's under obligation, he's under obligation all the time. If he is under obligation to keep the Torah, he's under obligation to keep it when he's with the Gentiles too.

The Jews knew that. But Paul was not under obligation to keep the Torah. Obviously, when I'm with those who are without the Torah, I live like one without the Torah.

I'll go to a Gentile house and if they serve me pork, I'll eat it. I won't even consider myself under the Torah because they don't. Why should I? It's not binding on me.

I'm a Christian. I'm not the law that I'm under. But then he says in parenthesis, but I'm not without law toward God.

Now sometimes the Torah observer people say, well, the Bible uses the word iniquity a lot and iniquity means lawlessness and Christians are not supposed to be lawless. Being lawless is evil. True.

Being lawless is evil. Paul says, I'm not lawless but my law is not the Torah. I'm obedient to God but I'm not obedient to the Torah.

The Old Testament Torah because that's not the law that God expects me to keep now. He says, I'm not without law toward God. I'm under the law toward Christ.

That is to say, I can not keep Torah when I'm with a Gentile. I can eat food that's not kosher because I'm not under that law. But I am under the law of Christ.

If that same Gentile who invites me over wants me to get drunk with him or go out with him to find some prostitutes, I can't do that because Christ is the one that I obey and he would not allow that. What Paul is saying is, I'm not a lawless man. It's not like when I go among Gentiles I can just do anything Gentiles do if they're pagans.

I can't live like a pagan but I can eat like a pagan. I can do things that pagans do that Jews cannot do who are under the law. But I'm still under the law of Christ.

Christians have to obey Christ. That's what makes us disciples. If you continue in my words, Jesus said, then you're my disciples.

So Paul says, I'm not a lawless man but I am not under the Torah. I'm under the law of Christ that I might win those who are without the law. So this is how Paul is culturally sensitive.

We see that Paul in Acts 16.3 circumcised Timothy when he took him on his team. Why? Timothy was a Jew. He had a Jewish mother.

Well why wasn't he circumcised? Because his father was a Gentile and apparently didn't want him circumcised so the mother had to submit. So Timothy, technically a Jew with a Jewish mother, had a Gentile father and therefore had not been circumcised. But he would be called a Jew in Jewish circles.

So if he was traveling with Paul and people knew he was a Jew but knew he had a Gentile father, they might wonder is he circumcised or not? He's not going to show them certainly but Paul says, I want you to be able to say yes. Why? I just don't want to unnecessarily offend these Jews get circumcised. So he had Timothy circumcised to avoid the offense to the Jews of him having an uncircumcised Jewish man with him.

But when he had a Gentile man, Titus, with him when he visited Jerusalem, they wanted Titus to be circumcised and Paul says he resisted it vociferously he said I wouldn't give in to them for a minute because he was a Gentile. It's one thing to say I don't mind a Jew being circumcised, that's okay because he's a Jew anyway, it doesn't matter. It's just a matter of avoiding stumbling other Jews to have your Jewish companion be a circumcised Jew.

But Gentiles are not circumcised and Christian Gentiles don't have to be circumcised. Anyone who says they do is trying to make them Jews instead of Christians. It's trying to put them under Moses instead of under Christ.

That's really what Paul when he was dealing with a Jewish companion, Timothy, he had him circumcised in Acts 16.3 when it came to Titus in Galatians 2 verses 3-5 he wouldn't have him circumcised. Now Paul said that circumcision counts for nothing. He said it many times.

In Romans 2 28 and 29 he said he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward and of the flesh but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and that true circumcision is that which is of the heart. Also in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 actually three times Paul said circumcision doesn't matter at all. Once in 1 Corinthians 7 verse 19 he said circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.

The commandments of God are those that Christ has given us. We are supposed to obey Christ. Now by the way, if we were under the Old Testament commands of God then circumcision would be something because there is an Old Testament command of God to be circumcised.

So when he says keeping the commandments of God he doesn't mean but the Torah because he would be contradicting himself. He is saying being circumcised or uncircumcised doesn't make a difference at all but keeping the commandments of God does. If the commandments of God means the Old Testament Torah then you just contradict yourself because the Torah commands you to be circumcised.

He says no, not that law. The laws of God are the law of Christ. What Christ has told us to do that's what matters not what the Mosaic law requires to do.

That would require circumcision and that is to God nothing. He says a similar thing twice in Galatians. Once in Galatians 5, 6 where he says For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through love.

Now notice he says the same thing as he said in Corinthians. Circumcision, uncircumcision, nothing. It's nothing.

But in 1 Corinthians he said keeping the commandments of God. Here he says faith working through love. Commandments of God what's the commandment of God? To love.

So if your faith is working through love you're keeping the commandments of Christ. Circumcision, uncircumcision a non-issue and therefore Jewish law a non-issue because circumcision is central to the Jewish law. A Gentile who got bound himself to the Jewish law.

So no, none of that matters. In Galatians 6, 15 he says for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision or uncircumcision avails anything but a new creation. Being born again is what avails.

Not having circumcision or no circumcision. It's not an issue. Three times Paul says circumcision, uncircumcision it's nothing.

What is something? Keeping the commandments of God being a new creation having a faith that works through love. Those are the things that matter. Circumcision isn't even on the list of those things.

And yet circumcision was more important than Sabbath keeping. Believe it or not because Jesus pointed out to the Jews that they would circumcise a man on the Sabbath a baby actually on the 8th day of a Jew's life they'd be circumcised a male if that was a Sabbath the priest had to do it on the Sabbath. He'd break the Sabbath to keep the circumcision so circumcision is even more fundamental than Sabbath keeping you could break the Sabbath if the circumcision law was in conflict with it but circumcision is nothing and if it's more important than Sabbath and other holy days and festivals then those laws for the Christian are essentially nothing like circumcision In Galatians 5.3 Paul made the statement I mentioned earlier I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he's a debtor to keep the whole Torah all 613 laws all the sacrifices, all the pilgrimages, all the stuff in the law, the whole Torah if you get circumcised that is if you take on yourself Torah observance, that's a big load of stuff it's a burden that even the Jews never carried successfully why impose that on the Gentiles, Peter said and Paul says that's what you're doing if you take on circumcision you have to return to animal sacrifices, pilgrimages killing rebellious children killing idolatrous wives or husbands and so forth like the law said, keeping those laws that's the whole law if you're under circumcision, if you're under Torah you're under all of it, you can't pick and choose the parts you like now about things that are clean or unclean Paul indicated there's no such distinctions anymore and that is also something very central to the Torah Torah observance is kosher but in Colossians 2.16 and 17 Paul said therefore let no one judge you in food or in drink or regarding festivals or new moons or Sabbaths which are a shadow of things to come but the substance is Christ Christ is the substance that was coming the shadows that preceded him were things like dietary restrictions festivals, new moons, Sabbaths they were a temporary thing Paul says, the substance, the permanent shadows pass, the substance is permanent Christ is the substance, those rules were a shadow that were only for the time being he said in Romans 14 verses 1-5 I've already alluded to this, Paul said some of the Christians in Rome, the Jewish ones no doubt, were restricting their diet, others probably the Gentile Christians were not restricting their diet, some were restricting themselves to observing a holy day, probably the Jewish Christians some were not probably the Gentile Christians and what Paul says is who are you to judge another man's servant you don't judge each other about that stuff everyone be fully persuaded in his own mind something Paul could not have said if there's some obligation there if Christians are obligated to keep a kosher diet then the man who thinks he can eat all things is in the wrong, if Christians are supposed to observe holy days then the man who keeps every day alike is in the wrong how is Paul not going to correct that, because there is no such obligation so let everyone do whatever he's persuaded in his own mind that he wants to do that is to say the man who doesn't do it is not neglecting any obligation the man who does those things is not fulfilling an obligation except the fulfillment of the obligation of his conscience and therefore he should keep his conscience pure but there's no obligation to keep holy days or a kosher diet, Paul says that in Colossians 2, 16 and 17 and again we saw it in Romans 14, 1-5 Paul said in Romans 14 when it comes to ceremonial laws and diet and so forth of Jews, Paul is as clear as we can hope for any man to be in Romans 14, he says I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus this isn't something that he made up Jesus convinced him of this that there is nothing unclean of itself and he's talking about food here there is no such thing as unclean food, how does he know that? because Jesus convinced him when did Jesus do that? Jesus said what goes into your mouth doesn't defile it what comes out defiles it thus Jesus declared all foods clean it says in Mark chapter 7 so Paul is now a former Pharisee who had to live a clean diet, he now has been convinced by Jesus there's nothing unclean of itself but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it's unclean in other words if it bothers your conscience then don't do it in 1st Timothy 4 and we're winding this down believe it or not 1st Timothy chapter 4 Paul talks about false teachers who try to put these kinds of restrictions on people which tells us what Paul would have thought about the Torah observant teachers in the church today and he said this about them in 1st Timothy 1st Timothy 4 verse 1 the spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons it's a demonic influence in the church he says among other things they are forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving verse 4 for every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused a creature of God is a creation of God, God is the creator everything else is the creature everything God created is good nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified, that is it's made holy, it's cleansed by the word of God, that is Christ's command, Christ's statement that all foods are clean, sanctifies all things, every food is sanctified by the word of Christ the word of God and prayer so Paul knows nothing of Christians being charged with eating a kosher diet, Jewish Christians might want to do so and he doesn't forbid them to do so, though if they think that's necessary, they're misguided and if they say that Gentiles must do so, they're heretics they're teaching doctrines of demons and they've departed from the faith now, real quickly here's some statements Paul made in Galatians 2.4 Paul speaks of the Judaizing Christians in Jerusalem as false brethren you can read that on your own but he said the reason that we had to bring this up about Titus being circumcised or not is because certain false brethren tried to get us to circumcise Titus false brethren, false Christians now we know that some people who claim to be Christians probably aren't really Christians, we know the churches have many people in them that not really are born again but we can't always tell who they are but there's one group that Paul says can be identified as false Christians those who are seeking to enforce Torah observance that's what he called them now that might sound like an uncharitable thing for me to say and fortunately I'm not the one who had to say it, Paul said it I'm not a Bible writer, I'm a Bible teacher so I didn't write this but as a Bible teacher I have no choice but to teach it because Paul said it very clearly there were false brethren in the church in Jerusalem he said who tried to persuade him to get Titus to be circumcised in other words to come under the law, the Torah bringing Christians under the law is something that false Christians do Paul said in Galatians 1 that they are preaching another gospel yes, Galatians is written to people who are under the influence of Judaizers of Torah observant people saying that you must observe the Torah and when he speaks about what they're saying he says in verse 6 Galatians 1.6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him, Jesus, who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel the Judaizers are not teaching an improvement on the real gospel, it's a different gospel and it's not a good one verse 7 he says it's not really another good news there are some who are troubling you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ, this is a perversion of the true gospel he says but even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel and he's saying the Judaizers are doing that to you then we have preached to you let him be accursed or anathema damned he said in verse 9 as we have said before so now I say again if anyone preaches any other gospel to you then what you have received let him be accursed so there's an anathema pronounced by the apostle Paul on everyone who preaches a different gospel and he says the Judaizers are teaching a different gospel, people who teach that you should follow Hebrew customs Hebrew laws, the Torah they are Judaizers and Paul says that is a different gospel, those who teach it should be anathema he called it demonic doctrines as we saw in 1st Timothy 4 now let me show you just in two other passages in Galatians Galatians 5 verse 2 Paul said indeed I Paul say to you that if you become circumcised Christ will profit you nothing if Christ profits you nothing does that mean you are not saved if he is the Savior and he profits you nothing you can't be saved because if you are saved he has profited you he is saying you are not profited by Christ in any way nothing, he profits you nothing if you become circumcised, he means by this he is not talking about doing something for hygienic reasons some people get circumcised for that reason he is talking about if you adopt the Jewish law with the first requirement that you be circumcised if you do that you have left Christ he will profit you nothing and in verse 4 he says you have become estranged from Christ you who attempt to be justified by the law you have fallen from grace fallen from grace, estranged from Christ Christ profit you nothing these are not describing people who are saved these are people who were saved but they have become estranged from Christ they have fallen from grace they were in grace but they are not anymore they have gone into a false gospel bringing a curse upon them from Paul and therefore apparently from God now it is true he says those who want to be justified by the law some of the Torah observant people say well we don't believe in being justified by the law we are justified by faith keeping the law is what God wants you to do so if God wants me to do it then it is wrong for me not to do it is that right? well yeah if that is true if God wants me to do it then it is wrong for me not to do it that means I am guilty if I don't keep the law I mean what else could you say if God wants me to keep the law then I am guilty of being lawless I am not righteous I am lawless if I am breaking the commands of God and he wants me to keep them then by keeping the law I avoid being condemned I avoid being lawless I avoid the stamp of unrighteousness by obeying the law I am thus seeking to be justified by the law if you impose the law upon yourself because God certainly doesn't do it but if you do you are seeking to be justified by the law now I realize you are going to say justified that just means being able to go to heaven we are going to go to heaven because of Jesus but we are supposed to live here in the law no being justified means to be righteous to be declared righteous by God does God think you are righteous when you are eating pork does God think you are righteous when you are not keeping Sabbath when you are not keeping Feast of Tabernacles when you are not doing the Jewish things does God think you are righteous if he says I am righteous when I am not doing them then he must not object to me not doing them if he wants me to do them then I am not righteous when I reject them Paul is making it very clear we are not obligated to keep the law if you say we are you are teaching a different gospel it's a demonic gospel it's a false gospel you have fallen from grace you have departed from Christ Christ will profit you nothing these are the words of Paul not of me these are the words of Scripture and we saw already in Galatians 4, 10 and 11 when Paul said you people are keeping festivals you are keeping days and years and so forth he says I feel like I have labored for you in vain in other words I feel like there has been no profit in my labor among you I came to you and you were heathen I brought you to Christ I brought you to salvation this is a tremendous result but I feel like that result has been lost I feel like you are not saved I feel like I have labored in vain I might as well not come to you I might as well just as well should have left you as pagans as have you go this direction that's what it means I have labored in vain you see Paul does not mince words about this now some some Judaizers today they try to kind of diminish Paul they say well yeah but he wasn't on the same page with Jesus he wasn't quite on the same page with the Jewish disciples there was some friction there between them we need to listen to what Jesus said more than Paul but no we find that Paul got his information from Jesus when he said there is no food unclean he said I have been convinced by Jesus Christ that there is no food unclean he is not different than what Jesus said he is getting it from Jesus Peter sat under Jesus personally and was appointed to be you know one of the great spokesman for Christ James the Lord's brother was recognized by the other apostles as a great apostle they said the same thing Paul did when it came to a conflict between Paul and some people with Torah observant sensitivities in Jerusalem the apostles stood with Paul that's what the Jerusalem council did they said Paul and Barnabas they are right so when we read what Paul said we are reading what Peter and James said was right and we are reading what Jesus said in fact because I have heard many times people say that Jesus and Paul didn't teach quite the same things I actually made a chart which I have offered on the air to people and when people email me I send it to them showing the teachings of Jesus and Paul on like 15 of the major subjects they taught about the central subjects of Jesus teaching the kingdom of God, the fatherhood of God justification by faith the substitutionary or the ransom that Christ paid on the cross the main subjects that we find taught in Jesus we find taught in Paul and I put the scriptures side by side anyone who says that Paul wasn't teaching the same thing Jesus did is not either they are either not understanding Jesus or they are not understanding Paul Peter and James understood Jesus and they understood Paul and they said they are both alike they are both saying the same thing we agree with Paul and Barnabas and thus of course any Christian who is going to be agreeable with Jesus and the apostles must take Paul very seriously and when Paul, Paul certainly is taking this seriously when he says you have been estranged from Christ that is not a light thing you want to be saved then do not come under the Torah if you want to eat if you want to eat a kosher diet and you realize this is just for health then okay if you think I am keeping a kosher diet because God requires it you have a different law you have a different Lord Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath if you feel like you have to keep the Sabbath when he says you don't then you are not following his Lordship you are following the Lordship of the Law that is what the New Testament teaches and what the Old Testament teaches because Paul said the righteousness of God apart from the Law is witnessed in the Law and the Prophets and we have seen that is true so with that we are going to have to close obviously more things could be said did you know that? more things could be said than what I have said here yes there are more things to say but these things are enough to feel like we have covered