John McKee delivers the April 2024 Outreach Israel News update.
Torah (Pentateuch)
Messianic Apologetics editor John McKee sorts through some of the challenging statements of Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew ch. 5. How much do today’s Messianic people really believe that the Messiah offers the definitive interpretation and application of Moses’ Teaching? How many of us are severely challenged by some of the ethical and moral imperatives of our Lord?
Torah observance is much more than just Shabbat, the festivals, and kosher. A great number of ethical and moral issues/commandments become significantly conscious to the Torah reader. Likewise, a person has to encounter a world going not only back some 3,300 years to the time of the Exodus, but multiplied millennia to the Creation of the cosmos itself. The questions and the controversies that the first five books of the Bible present to us, not just as students of God’s Word, but specifically as Messianic Believers—are quite significant. Many people do not know what to do when the social norms of the ancient period are different than those of today, and are often at a loss when reading the Torah. Not infrequently, such issues are just avoided or outright ignored in Messianic Torah study.
Today’s Messianic community generally believes in the validity of the Torah, in the post-resurrection era. But there are levels of agreement and disagreement, when it comes to how Jewish and non-Jewish Believers should keep, or not keep, the Torah. In an as-fair-and-reasonable way as possible, John McKee directs us through how we need to focus on what we agree on first—agreeing to carefully work through those areas where not all Messianic people are presently in agreement.
Messianic Apologetics editor John McKee briefly summarizes some of the major factors, which will affect our interpretation and application of Moses’ Teaching: Ancient Israel, the Messiah Event, Jewish examination, Christian examination.
If today’s Messianic students commit to reading the Torah from the perspective of Ancient Israel first—what will be a few of the difficult matters to overcome?