Fulfilling the Law of Moses
If you were to pinpoint one issue that separates Messianic believers from regular church-going Christians, it would be how applicable the Law of Moses is for today. Both regular Christians and Messianics believe in salvation by faith in the redemption of the Messiah. How we walk out our lives believing in the Messiah: that is the rub. Simply put, should Christians “keep the Law” and all of the commandments? Messianics say “Yes.” If you ask one of our New Covenant brethren or a typical church pastor, the answer will be “No!”
Christians will explain that the New Covenant did away with the “Old” Covenant and that Jesus “fulfilled” the Law. They might even throw a bone to you and say something like, “We still keep the moral law, but the ceremonial law is out. Besides, no one can really keep the Law.” Christians who answer this way believe in “Replacement Theology.”
Replacement Theology originated with the Church Fathers—not with the Apostles or the writers of the New Testament. They made a series of decisions to void the divine covenant with Israel, choosing instead to establish the “Church” as the replacement for the Jewish people and the actual land promised to Abraham and his descendants. They also eliminated any idea of the lasting nature of the Levitical priests and their calling. Because the Temple had been destroyed by the Romans, the early Church Fathers simply instituted a new priesthood for the Church. The final plank in this theology was to emphasize the Apostle Paul’s teaching over and above the words of everyone else in the Bible, including everything God had said before and what the Messiah Himself said. Paul’s arguments with the Pharisees and the Sadducees became the theological argument against Moses and the books of the Bible prior to the Gospels.
For the record, the Jewish religious leadership in Yeshua’s day did not believe in Moses or the Law. They taught their own precepts and elevated their traditions above the commandments. Yeshua spoke directly to this.
The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?" And He said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.’" Mark 7:5-8
Any Christian using the Apostle Paul to counter the Law or any commandment is in great error. Paul was taking issue with the Pharisaic teaching, not the Law of Moses. Even the Apostle Peter spoke to this matter.
…and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 2 Peter 3:15-16
The Church Fathers struggled with their theology in the first centuries. The Bar Kokhba Revolt brought about the separation of Messianic Jewish believers from the Gentile believers, since the Messianic Jews sided with Israel against Rome while the Christians were Roman citizens and supported Rome. Once Bar Kokhba was proclaimed as the Messiah, even the Messianics withdrew from supporting Israel in their battle with Rome. The Romans’ dispersion of the Jews followed soon thereafter. After the separation of Christians and Messianics took shape, the Church Fathers convened the Nicene Conference in 315 A.D. and no Messianic believers participated. The New Testament was canonized in around 400 A.D. by Jerome. Again, no Messianic believers were able to express an argument for or against the various books being canonized. Take the case of the book of Hebrews. The book is directed specifically at Messianic Hebrew believers. It is the theological argument for “Replacement Theology,” diminishing the role of the Levitical priests, the role of the Messiah as the Testator in a better covenant (making the previous one obsolete), and the call for all Hebrew believers to leave Jerusalem and the Temple system with its ceremonial foods. It was an effort to bring the Messianic believers back into the fold under Gentile leadership. You know the rest of the story about the divisions of the Catholics and then the Protestants followed by the creation of countless different denominations right up to today. The world has been divided into Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants, Baptists, Presbyterians, the Methodists, etc. etc. etc.
The average Christian does not understand this history. Church Christians have been told that Jesus and Paul made all of these decisions to move away from the promises of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They have been told that the Law only worked for a time, and that it was replaced by grace and by Gentile believers. They have been taught that the Temple system ended, with the Church taking its place as God’s institution for today. They have been told that the curses of the Law were put upon the Jews for rejecting Christ while the blessings were passed on to the Christians. Church history and its persecution of the Jews establishes the fact that this has been the historical teaching of “Replacement Theology.”
But here is the problem, and this is how the question of whether Christians should keep the Law should be answered. Did Jesus (Yeshua) come to abolish, modify, or annul any part of the Law as a result of His redemptive work? Did Yeshua teach against the Law of Moses and the keeping of those commandments? It is not even necessary to see whether or not Paul taught this.
If Yeshua, the Messiah, did NOT call for the annulment of any commandments by His words and deeds and then Paul, an Apostle, did teach others not to the keep the Law, that would make Paul a heretic and a false teacher. The crux of this matter falls completely upon the decisions and actions of Messiah God. I would caution those who assert Paul’s arguments: Paul is not above the Messiah. The Messiah is Almighty God come in the flesh, the Creator of the Universe, the same God who destroyed the first world by the flood, the God who made covenant with Abraham and his descendants, and the Giver of the Torah. Paul was only one of His Apostles and a fellow believer like us. Did the Messiah affirm the Law of Moses and exhort us to keep the commandments or did He somehow modify and annul part of it? Quite honestly, Paul’s opinion, just like ours, is irrelevant in this matter. We don’t make the rules; God makes the rules. We follow the rules. Only God can change the Law, and He has said that He does not change.
For I, the LORD, do not change: therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. Malachi 3:6
Let us examine what Messiah Yeshua had to say about the Law.
Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Mathewt 5:17-20
Despite the clarity and straightforward way in which the Messiah has said it, Christian teachers defy these words and dispute the ultimate meaning on the basis of one word here. The word is “fulfill.”
But before we answer that directly, let us examine more closely what Yeshua said.
Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets
Many Christians and Church leaders are constantly trying to think of more ways to annul what God said through the Moses and the Prophets. However, the Messiah said don’t even think that He was coming to change what God said through them. Instead, they pursue every possible argument to justify opposition to the Law of Moses. Have you ever heard arguments against the Law such as “We are not under the Law” or “Those feasts and festivals are only for the Jews” or “If you keep one of the commandments, you have to keep them all” or “Keeping the Law is salvation by works” or “We now live by grace”? We have all heard these, and more. The fact is that many of those voices have no idea what the Law actually teaches or commands. Upon closer examination, these same Christians actually keep many of the commandments (because they are written on their hearts) but don’t realize it comes from the Law. Take for example the command to not take God’s Name in vain. Christians teach that we should not take His Name in vain. But, this commandment is nowhere in the New Testament; it is only in the Law, and yet Christians speak against keeping the Law. The problem is their thinking. If they would stop and think about what they are saying, they would realize they are contradicting themselves and what Yeshua said. Yeshua didn’t abolish any commandments; He taught them.
I did not come to abolish but to fulfill
This the where the dispute with the Law begins. Opposition to the Law begins with twisting Yeshua’s words. The twisted distortions of Yeshua’s teaching centers on the word fulfill and what it means. Those opposed to the Law say that the word fulfill means “complete.” Therefore, Yeshua has completed the Law and that has resulted in the Law, the Temple service, the customs of Moses, the Levitical priesthood, and all of the rest being “done away with,” “not needed anymore,” etc. It is true that one of the meanings of the word fulfill is “to complete.” But the same word means to bring to “bring to fullness” or “make it even more so.” Yeshua’s use of the word fulfill is the opposite of the word abolish. Therefore, any effort to extrapolate a further meaning from the word “complete” to mean “done away with” or “made void and of none effect” is a false definition. The context of the sentence demands that the word “fulfill” be defined as something even greater than what the Law and Prophets may have been first perceived.
Let me say that slightly differently—bringing out the more positive effect and how Yeshua used the word fulfill. Yeshua said that He was going to make the Law and its teaching even greater than was first understood. He was going to make the Torah even greater than what we understood Moses’ teaching to be.
By the way, this is the same thing said by the Prophet Jeremiah when he prophesied about the New Covenant that the Messiah gave us. Jeremiah said that something wonderful would happen with the Law and the commandments as compared to what happened to the fathers at Mount Sinai. Instead of the Law and the commandments being limited to the history of Moses, the two Tablets, and the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, he said the wonder would include a renewal of the covenant with all of Israel (both houses), forgiveness for breaking the other covenant, writing the commandments not on stone, but on the tablets of our hearts, a deepened relationship with God (knowing Him), and bringing us all into His kingdom where everyone knows the Lord. No one will need to instruct anyone to “know the Lord” anymore.
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Jeremiah 31:31-34
This is the covenant initiated by the Messiah for us. But, how can there ever be a time when no one is teaching “Know the Lord?” That time can only come when it is the Messiah Himself who teaches the Law and the commandments. By the way, that is considered the greatest prophecy for the Messiah and the Torah. Isaiah said it well…
Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths. For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.” Isaiah 2:2-4
This prophecy of the Messiah concerns the Messianic kingdom. This is our goal for the New Covenant! It says we will worship the Lord in Jerusalem at His Temple. It also says that the Messiah will teach the Torah from there for the whole world to receive. It says that nations will follow His laws and there will be peace.
Yeshua came teaching the Law and the commandments of God that would lead to His Kingdom. The prophecy says that the Messiah would teach the Torah. Yeshua did teach the Torah. That is why He had so much conflict with the religious leaders of His day; they weren’t teaching it correctly. Listen to His teaching for a moment.
In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12
Is Yeshua teaching the Torah or is He setting a new understanding of grace replacing the Law?
When Yeshua warns religious people that they must know Him, not just be religious in their activities, dropping the Lord’s Name everywhere, He warns them of pending judgment.
And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.” Matthew 7:23
According to Yeshua, keeping the Law is synonymous with knowing Him; whereas, not knowing Him is synonymous with being law-less (not keeping the Law). Is this “salvation by works?” Absolutely not! This is the same thing the Apostle John taught.
The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 1 John 2:4-6
What did John say here? Did He say keeping God’s word (the Torah) was how the love of God is perfected?!? Yes, He did!
How did the Christian church misconstrue this understanding? Why don’t they teach the New Covenant that the Messiah was to bring and the kingdom He would lead? To answer that we have to go back to what Yeshua said further in Matthew 5.
For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Matthew 5:18
I can prove to you that the Law and the (writings of the) Prophets are just as real today as they were when first given. All you need to do is look outside and see if heaven and earth have passed away yet. If they are still there, then the Torah is still with us and in full effect.
Yeshua speaks of the continuing presence of heaven and earth by referring to things yet to happen. The Law will remain until all is accomplished. It was not all accomplished by Yeshua’s work of redemption. There is still much more to what all is about!
This might be a surprise to some of you, but I’m just going to say it straight out. If your Biblical texts are limited to only a translation into English, without the Hebrew text to compare, you don’t have all of the Scripture that Yeshua is talking about.
This particular passage of Scripture has confused Bible translators in the past and is not well understood today. In the old King James Bible this verse reads, “not a jot or tittle will pass away until all is accomplished.” What exactly is a “jot” and a “tittle,” other than old Elizabethan English garble? Translators decided to use the expression “smallest letter” or “stroke” of a letter to be the translation for modern English. They missed it completely.
It turns out that in the Hebrew text the Scribes who copied the Scriptures have inserted some rather fascinating markings in the text to remind Torah teachers to bring out particular meanings and teachings. It turns out there are real jots (that look like dots) above certain words in very specific locations. In fact, they appear in only four places—all in the Torah. The four places form a special kind of cross reference linking the “kiss” of Esau with “Jacob’s” flock that Joseph went looking for, with the census of the firstborn, and finally with Moses’s exhortation to the last generation. It is a very powerful teaching in its own right and serves as a special homiletic teaching in the Torah.
The tittles are three distinct presentations of individual letters in the Hebrew text. Each Hebrew letter has a specific definition of its own. The first type of tittle is to make certain letters large and bolded in the text, emphasizing the meaning of the letter. The second type of tittle is to make certain letters small, diminishing the meaning of the letter. Finally, the third type of tittle is what are called “stigmatized” letters. These are individual letter that are “stigmatized” with the letter drawn backwards, elongated, broken, or elevated above the base line.
In the Torah alone there are more than two dozen of these “scribal markings” and approximately 100 of them throughout the Old Testament, each with a specific teaching. Now here is what is fascinating. Yeshua taught about several of these as He taught the Torah, and the Apostle Paul (who knew the Torah well) taught them extensively in his letters.
Yeshua’s reference to the “jots and tittles” included the scribal markings among the teachings that shall not pass away. He considered these scribal markings to be part of the Law and the Prophets.
If you ask the average Christian or Christian pastor today to teach on the “scribal markings” of the Torah that are also taught in the New Testament, you will get a blank stare. These are the same people who say Yeshua did away with them and you don’t need to know about them.
For the record, the return of the Remnant of Israel is yet to be fulfilled, the second coming of the Lord is still not yet fulfilled, and the Day of the Lord is still yet to be fulfilled. These are all prophecies from the Law and the Prophets.
I can almost hear some of the Church Christians and pastors trying to counter all that has been said here. As I have heard before from them, “We still keep the Moral Law (the laws about right and wrong), but we don’t believe the ceremonial laws such as the temple stuff and animal sacrifices.” But let us see how Yeshua deals with those who would parse out what they think we should keep and what they think are irrelevant that we shouldn’t keep.
Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:19
Let’s make sure we all agree on the definition of the word annul and consider the context of how He used the word. Yeshua is referring to every part, teaching, instruction, and commandment of the Torah, including the list the Apostle Paul made.
who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Messiah according to the flesh, Romans 9:4-5a
Israel not only received the commandments in the “Old Covenant,” they received much more:
The adoption as sons includes being chosen by God and the inheritance of the firstborn.
The glory is God’s very presence visiting them in both the Temple and the Messiah.
The covenants include the covenant made with Adam, the covenant made with Noah, the covenant made with Abraham (the Hebrew people), the covenant made with Moses and the children of Israel, the covenant made with King David, the covenant made with the two houses of Israel (the new covenant) by the Messiah, and the future covenant of peace promised in the kingdom.
The giving of the Law, with all we understand the Bible to be, includes the teachings, the poetry, the music, the history, the commandments, and the prophecies including the Sabbath, and the annual feasts/festivals.
The temple service refers to the Levitical priesthood and the High Priest, the wilderness tabernacle and its furnishings, the Temple in Jerusalem and all of its furnishings, the altar and its service, and the entire Temple Mount.
The promises that were given to Abraham serve as the basis for faith and salvation. The promise of the Lamb of God was given to him, and it extends to every person who joins with and believes in the God of Israel and His only begotten Son.
The fathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—set a family in motion that would bring about a nation, Israel (the sons of Jacob). Israel is the name of the kingdom and it is the kingdom of the Messiah.
The Messiah, who came to minister in the flesh, was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel and the world, promised to us through Abraham. The Messiah in the flesh belongs to Israel. Some of my Jewish brethren don’t want Him, but the fact remains that the history of Israel includes the testimony of Yeshua of Nazareth and the evidence of His Messiahship.
I have reviewed Paul’s list of things that belong to Israel because those who attempt to annul any part of the Scripture, specifically the Torah, are violating the commandment to neither add to nor take away from the Law.
You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. Deuteronomy 4:2
Yeshua’s statement in Matthew 5:19 speaks of judgment to come if anyone violates that commandment. Let me summarize His conclusions.
If you are Bible scholar, with alphabet letters after your name, recognized as a religious leader, even a president of a seminary, or the pastor of the biggest church in your city, and you teach brethren not to keep the Sabbath, to eat the detestable, not to keep the feasts of the Lord, then you will barely make it into the kingdom and you will have no position of esteem or leadership in His kingdom. Your reward will be small as compared to others’ because you got most of it here and now as a mortal, being esteemed of men. Your cup will be empty there.
If you are just a regular believer and of no reputation in the faith, but one who has adhered to and followed the teaching of the previous one mentioned, then you too, will have no position of esteem or leadership in His kingdom. You will be able to join him with a similar reward, only with no reward here as a mortal either. Your cup there will be empty as well.
However, if you are simple believer, trusting the Messiah for your salvation, and you hear and do His words, “If you love Me, keep My commandments,” you will be surprised to find that your reward in the kingdom will be “exceedingly great.” Your humility and obedience will be a cause to celebrate in the kingdom with great joy. Don’t be concerned about any reward here as a mortal. All of your rewards have been kept safe and await you in full with the Lord. Your cup there will be overflowing. This is what the Messiah has said, and He is the Judge of these matters.
As I conclude the review of Yeshua’s statement in Matthew 5, I would remind you again of who Yeshua is and why His statement is worthy of serious consideration.
I believe that Messiah Yeshua speaks with more authority on the matter of the Law and the Prophets than any other teacher or member of the faith. I believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, God’s Son, Yahweh God, the Lord our GOD, the Redeemer of Mankind, Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe, the Giver of the Law, the King of Kings, and the Lord of all Lords.
Isaiah says that the Lord is also our Judge, Lawgiver, the King, and our Savior—all in ONE.
For the LORD is our judge, The LORD is our lawgiver, The LORD is our king; He will save us— Isaiah 33:22
The Apostle James agrees with Isaiah and equates all of this to the Messiah.
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; James 4:12a
The Apostle Luke summarized it nicely in the Book of Acts with Paul’s testimony:
But this I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets; Acts 24:14
The next time one of your brethren argues that Yeshua fulfilled the Law and it is now “done away with,” offer them a drink. The drink should be something nice that they will enjoy. Set the glass before them and fill it full. Then suddenly, take it from them and explain since the cup is “fulfilled,” it is now “done away with” and they get no further drink. Maybe they will think again and will begin to understand what the Messiah said.
