Mark Huey of Outreach Israel Ministries delivers the following message, “Torah and the Holy Spirit.” How do today’s Believers in the Messiah of Israel, properly follow the commandments of God, while also being sensitive to the Spirit of God?
One of the most controversial debates that circulates in the broad Messianic community of faith is the validity and relevance of the commandments and instructions of the Torah or Law of Moses, the Books of Genesis-Deuteronomy, to all of the people of God. For 3,300 years, followers of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have recognized these Scriptures as being foundational to what is commonly referred to as the Judeo-Christian worldview. While diverse Jewish and Christian traditions have approached the Torah from some different angles, large sectors of both the Synagogue and Church have advocated that Moses’ Teaching is to guide a substantial part of our ethical and moral compass, in order to live a happy and productive life here on Earth.
It is hard to deny that Yeshua the Messiah required His followers to not only heed the Torah of Moses, but that rewards and penalties would be assigned to those who spoke in favor or spoke against its commandments (Matthew 5:17-19). All Believers must recognize that His sacrifice for sin is something that atones for our common human transgression of the Torah (Colossians 2:14). Whether one is a Jew who has been taught the Torah from birth, or a pagan with a conscience given to him by a Creator that impresses upon the mind that certain things are wrong (cf. Romans 2:14-15), all people require the redemption offered in Yeshua.
The controversy, that has heightened in modern times, has arisen precisely because of the large influx of non-Jewish Believers into the Messianic movement. These are largely evangelical Christians who not only want to be enriched by their Hebraic Roots, but who want to live the way Yeshua lived, and follow the Torah the way that He did. They believe themselves to be members of the Commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2:11-12) or the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16), and that Moses’ Teaching is a part of their heritage the same as any Jewish person (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:1-4). As this has taken place, many Jewish Believers, including some dear friends that I know personally, have welcomed families like ours with open arms. They are most eager to join with us as a part of the “one new humanity” (Ephesians 2:15, NRSV/CJB) that has been created in the Messiah, and they want non-Jewish Believers to take a hold of their heritage in Israel. The fellowship and close friendship I have developed with such people has been a great and cherished blessing!
At the same time, this has not always occurred, because many Jewish Believers want the Messianic movement to be something that is almost exclusively Jewish. Other than a few moral commandments being relevant for non-Jewish Believers, they claim that families like ours probably should not be considering the Torah as being that valid for us.
In the past century, we have witnessed significant events in terms of the return of the Jewish people to the Promised Land and the creation of the State of Israel. Many Christians have wholeheartedly repented of past sins of anti-Semitism, with many recognizing a forgotten or overlooked heritage that they have in Israel. With the expansion of the Messianic movement over the past fifteen to twenty years, many Believers are beginning to recognize that more is going on than meets the eye—but not enough have really been willing to explore some of the potential, fuller ramifications of this, and facilitate Messianic congregations and fellowships where all of God’s people are welcome to have a place.
The Messianic world presently experiences a huge array of debates from its Jewish and non-Jewish members, some of them related to power and influence, and almost all of them focused around “who knows best.” Rather than trying to explore the Scriptures, and really consider how we can all leave our personal prejudices and uncertainties in the past, unfairly criticizing others with whom you disagree has been something our family has witnessed for all the time we have been Messianic. It has almost become a spectator sport, for which a player’s skills need to be honed.
Surveying the Biblical and historical records of the complicated relationship between Jews and Christians, surely it is time for those who claim to love and follow the Holy One of Israel to resolve their petty differences. We need to come together in the unity proclaimed by the Messiah Yeshua, who commanded His disciples to love one another:
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another…This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you” (John 13:34-35; 15:12-14, NASU).
Most lamentably, the kind of unconditional love that not only should be evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit residing in the hearts of the redeemed—but also should cause brothers and sisters to die for each other—does not typically manifest itself in the Messianic community. Rather than today’s Messianic Believers emphasizing the common faith we are to have in the Messiah as being most important, other issues are instead considered paramount. While some of these issues are important, their adherents frequently overstate their case, and take people away from the key imperatives of the good news. In terms of the Torah’s relevance for God’s people, the Scriptures are clear that with forgiveness in the Messiah (cf. Luke 22:20) comes a supernatural transcription of His Law onto a new heart of flesh:
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (Ezekiel 36:25-27; cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34, NASU).
No born again Believer honestly argues that the work of the Holy Spirit is limited to only one sector of humanity. Speaking to the Jerusalem Council, the Apostle Peter was clear to say, “God, who knows the heart, testified to them [the nations] giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us [the Jews]” (Acts 15:9, NASU). All of us, be we Jewish or non-Jewish Believers, live in a time when the Spirit of God will clearly be placed within a new heart of flesh in order for the recipients to faithfully walk in His commandments. This is neither a strict obligation, nor is it an option to be refused. Following God’s Torah is something that naturally comes by the conviction of God’s Spirit. The cleansing work of God’s Spirit, albeit upon diverse groups of people in different stages and levels of developing maturity, is universal.
Toward the Restoration of All Things
For years, the conundrum, about who was to pursue and follow the Torah’s instruction, personally persisted for me. As a Believer in the Messiah Yeshua whose family entered into the Messianic movement in 1995, I was led to a fuller understanding of the Scriptures as I was forced to consider a concept known as the “restoration of all things.” At Shavuot/Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out, the Apostle Peter proclaimed that a period known as the “restoration of all things” must occur before the Messiah can return:
“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Yeshua, the Messiah appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time” (Acts 3:19-21, NASU).
Acknowledging some of the things taking place in the Messianic community, with many Jews coming to faith in Yeshua and Christians embracing their Hebraic Roots—how serious is it for people of faith if we have really entered into the period of restoration of all things? What clues do the Prophets give us about what God’s people are to expect?
Since the ancient prophets of God had been predicting this period of restoration down through the ages, what are some of the main things that today’s Believers should be considering? If we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, leading us in the ways of righteousness, then we should be preparing ourselves for what is in store. Perhaps one of the most important concepts that needs to be embraced is how the Prophet Malachi expresses how fathers and children will be reconciled before the great and terrible Day of the Lord:
“Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:4-6, NASU).
While this should certainly be applied in terms of familial unity and love, it may also have to do with differences expressed across the generations—in particular how the final generation will be obeying God the same way as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were faithful to Him (cf. Revelation 12:17; 14:12). Malachi exhorted his audience to remember the Torah of Moses, precisely so that the Lord would not have to punish His people for disobedience. Malachi 4:4-6 has been a very important word for my family and me, as we have desired to serve the Lord will all our hearts (Joshua 24:15). Even though we had family roots in some Christian theological traditions that never advocated that the Law of Moses was fully abolished, and we did believe that the Old Testament “moral law” was still to be followed. After all, the Spirit uniquely convicted all of us that we needed to consider many more of the commandments and precepts of the Torah as being relevant and important to keep. The Torah itself is clear that its instructions are not to be too difficult to follow:
“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it. See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it” (Deuteronomy 30:11-16, NASU).
Following His affirmation of coming to fulfill, and not abolish the Torah, Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chs. 5-7 specifies some of the Law’s highest principles that must be followed and respected without question. The relationship we have with God and with other people is extremely critical, and throughout Yeshua’s teachings He emphasizes the Torah’s weightier matters such as “justice and mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23; cf. Hosea 6:6), which we must never lose sight of. All Messianic Believers that I know, who diligently want to keep the Torah, do so not because they feel “ordered” or “dictated” to—but because they are being conformed to the image of Yeshua who followed the Torah perfectly:
“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29, NASU).
The essence of the Torah is love for God and neighbor,4 and while there are many aspects of Torah observance that involve things like the seventh-day Sabbath/Shabbat, the appointed times, and the kosher dietary laws—truly following the Law requires men and women of faith to be filled with the grace, mercy, and compassion of their Creator.
Some Limitations from Today’s Messianic Jews
Many within today’s Messianic Judaism, especially given the sizeable influx of non-Jewish Believers into their congregations, have begun to strongly assert that following the Torah is only something that the Jewish people are called to do. They say it would be best for families like ours to return to our previous evangelical Christian experience, enriched by our Hebraic Roots, but not actively doing things that they believe make the Jewish people “distinct.” If we were to keep the seventh-day Shabbat, for example, some Messianic Jews would say that our family might be trying to replace them as special or chosen in God’s eyes.
The very fact that our family would be led to fellowship together with Jewish Believers, and remain in the Messianic movement in spite of a few unwelcoming tendencies, very much dispels the idea that we are somehow trying to replace the Jews as being special or chosen by the Lord. Yeshua is clear that “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). The Jewish people deserve great honor and respect, but what makes them distinct is really not Torah keeping, but instead being recognized as the source of every person’s redemption—as Yeshua Himself was a Jew!
The arguments commonly offered against a person such as myself desiring to live a holy life, obeying God’s commandments, I find to be very weak. I have heard Messianic Jewish teachers tell me many times that I am just one of many “Jewish wannabees,” even though my family does not at all live a culturally Jewish lifestyle, as much as we do appreciate many mainline Jewish traditions. But to them, things like the appointed times or kosher eating are culturally Jewish things, whereas to me they are Biblical ordinances that all who follow the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob need to heed regardless of background. Consequently, some Messianic Jews, who once emphasized that our family was an equal part of the Commonwealth of Israel along with them, are now backing off, because of a few problems that have been created. It is sad to say this, but such people really just do not know how we can all work together as fellow members of the Body of Messiah, in mixed congregations, with the presence of the Holy Spirit guiding us and with all demonstrating mutual honor and respect.
Deuteronomy chs. 27-28 teach us that those, who obey the Lord and seek to follow His commandments, will be blessed by Him. Those who disobey the Lord will be cursed by Him. Even with faith in Messiah Yeshua, where there is “no condemnation” (Romans 8:1), disobedience to God’s commandments can still cause there to be barriers between ourselves and Him, and He will penalize us the same as any Earthly parent. When I have been told by various Messianic Jewish teachers or leaders that the Torah is not a part of my spiritual heritage, I responded by saying that my family was bound and determined to receive the blessings of God. Their resistance to my view was almost like them trying to convince me to choose death rather than choose life—or at least a life of being largely separated from the intimate presence of my Creator. For such people to argue that obedience to the Torah was not for me, and in fact disobedience was for me, was most absurd.
We do not need to get mad or upset at some of today’s Messianic Jewish leaders who oppose non-Jewish Believers keeping the Torah. Many of these people, I feel, are still carrying around some spiritual baggage, including ancient hurts, rejections, being spurned by their own people, and possibly even having some open doors to demonic harassment that they do not know about. It would be too much for families like ours to expect all Messianic Jews to welcome us into their congregations with open arms as equal brothers and sisters right now, when many of them are still nursing their wounds incurred from declaring Messiah to their non-believing family and friends. Many of them are just not prepared to deal with the “Gentile question.” However, just like our spiritual forbearers, we are called to have great faith in the Holy One of Israel and recognize that His plan for the ages will come to pass. If you discern that today’s Messianic Judaism has some limitations that need to be worked through over time, our job is not to harbor bitterness or resentment, but instead simply love those who still have many issues to work through, giving them the space they need.
Torah and the Holy Spirit: Maturing in Him
How important is it for all Believers to follow God’s Torah? It is most easy to discern how since the resurrection and ascension of Yeshua, that all of His followers are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. There is an abundance of Scripture references that indicate how a born again Believer is to walk by the power of the Spirit (i.e., Acts 2:4; 4:8; 9:17; 13:9; 13:52; Ephesians 5:18). What the Holy Spirit is to do in regenerated hearts of flesh is most critical to understand. After we are forgiven of our sins, we are to have a mind that is focused on God and His ways, diligently living in obedience to Him:
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Messiah Yeshua. For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yeshua has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Messiah, he does not belong to Him” (Romans 8:1-9, NASU; also Galatians 5:16-26).
Those of us, who are born again followers of the Messiah Yeshua, are to consciously realize how “the just requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us who do not run our lives according to what our old nature wants but according to what the Spirit wants” (CJB).
While born again Believers do have to mature in their faith, and we will make mistakes along the way, it is impossible for the Holy Spirit resident in your heart to do anything that is not compliant with the Word of God. If the Spirit of God is ruling and reigning in your heart, the Spirit will not do anything that is in direct defiance of the Torah of God. The presence of the Spirit inside of the Believer’s heart is to continually convict him to seek more of God’s will and God’s ways, and this will include directing a person to study and meditate upon the Torah, which in many cases involves being revealed previously unknown commandments, statutes, and decrees.
As serious as it is for me to want to see my family blessed, from obeying God and not disobeying Him, it is more serious for us to all understand that walking in the Spirit will naturally lead us toward focusing on the Torah. If a born again Believer is truly walking in the Spirit and being led by the Spirit, then he will want to know more about how he can please his Heavenly Father. He will want to know more about proper obedience. If we are willfully deviating from His commandments in the Torah, and we disregard the Law of Moses as having any relevance for our lives, then we are not being led by the Spirit. Disobedience may simply be a momentary battle with the human flesh that needs to be overcome,6 or something far more serious as we may need to check to see if we have the mind of the Messiah (1 Corinthians 2:16).
A true Torah observance, on the part of God’s people filled with His Spirit, is going to be far more concerned with matters of ethics, morality, and in accomplishing the weightier matters than just focusing on some of the minutiae of outward deeds. Many of those who claim to be keeping the Torah in the Messianic world, be they Jewish or non-Jewish, do not really focus their attention on the compassion or support that God expects His people to demonstrate to one another, and to outsiders. Deuteronomy 10:12 admonishes,
“Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (NASU).
My friends, service to the Lord is far more encompassing than just showing up to Shabbat services on Saturday morning! The Lord requires His people to be concerned with enacting His justice in the fallen world in which we live, and demonstrate His goodness via tangible acts of kindness and mercy. Even though it is rather en vogue at times for Messianics to say that the Christian Church is “lawless,” evangelical Believers who value the Old Testament often understand what it means to live forth the Torah’s imperatives of love for God and neighbor better than some of today’s Messianics. However, my family is of the strong conviction that given time and maturation, the Messianic movement will demonstrate an excellence that fairly balances all aspects of the Torah as being important to follow as we emulate Yeshua and are conformed to His image (Romans 8:29).
Yeshua the Messiah requires each of us to walk the narrow path toward the narrow gate. Moving forward toward the finish line, we will steadily learn more about the ways of our Creator, as His Spirit transcribes His instruction on the heart (Jeremiah 31:33). For some people, this occurs at a faster pace than others. But the key is that we do not stray from the path—as the flesh has a tendency to make choices contrary to the will of the Spirit—which only leads to error, suffering, and possibly travail. As time moves ahead and our Messianic faith community grows and develops, more people will be open to the message of Torah obedience. This requires those of us who are already Messianic to make sure that we are not only keeping things like Shabbat or the appointed times, but that submitting ourselves to Moses’ Teaching makes us more sensitive to being conduits of God’s love for all of His human creatures.
Let us diligently pray that all of those who call upon the Holy One of Israel be filled up with His Holy Spirit! God’s Spirit will not contradict God’s Torah, unless fallen human flesh intervenes. May we all submit our wills to Him that His will shall be done, because in so doing, the unity among brethren that He desires will be evident. It will confirm that we are Yeshua’s disciples because of the love we have for one another!
Let us seek to follow the Torah as He followed it, and allow our character to be demonstrated not only by outward obedience, but an internal transformation that can be sensitive to the unique needs and sensitivities of all. If we are able to do this, then we can see barriers of human pride and arrogance steadily torn down: be they Christians who are opposed to any keeping of the Law, or Messianic Jews who do not want to see non-Jewish Believers claim a spiritual heritage within Israel.
