Gentiles and the Torah

"In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established". (2 Corinthians 13:1)

Paul is quoting the words of the Messiah here from Matthew 18. With this rule of doctrine it should be quite clear that the words of one man, if they are contradictory to two or three other witnesses, must be incorrect, mistranslated or misunderstood, especially if they are contradictory to the words of the Messiah.

Let's look at the most prominent example of this here in Ephesians :

“by abolishing in his flesh the Torah with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace.”

Now, let's take a look at the words of the Messiah in Matthew 5 :

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter [yud], not the least stroke of a pen [kotz], will by any means disappear from the Torah until everything is accomplished. Anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the Torah-teachers, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."

This should be enough to convince any sane human that what Paul is saying here is mistranslated or misunderstood, because his words are in direct contradiction to the words of Yeshua (Jesus). Just in case, let's look at another witness:

“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.” (1 John 3) or this passage from 1 John 5 “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

A frequent excuse I often hear for Gentiles (Christians) not obeying the commands of God is that there are 613 commands and no one could possibly keep them. It is a ridiculous concept that God would give us commands that we could not possibly keep and then condemn us to Hell for not keeping them. Paul himself said in his boast that he was “blameless” under the Torah. There is a belief among Christians which has become doctrine for the most part and that is that Yeshua (Jesus) was the only one who ever or could have ever kept the commands of the Torah because you have to be God to keep them. This is obviously erroneous given Paul's boast. Besides, if we do fall short we have an advocate with the Father. God Himself tells us that His commands are not impossible to keep and even warns us through Moses not to say that the commands are too hard.

Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 30 in Romans 10 and says “Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: 'The man who does these things will live by them. But the righteousness that is by faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down) "or 'Who will descend into the deep?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

We know that when someone quotes a single verse of scripture that the entire context is implied. Obviously Paul is not quoting half of a verse and expecting us to believe that he is changing the context of the original scripture, especially since these are the words of Moses himself. Here is the whole passage from Deuteronomy in context:

Deuteronomy 30

"You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you today. Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, if you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

All of these blessings and prosperity for doing what God says sound very good to me. What did you say? We are just Gentiles and the Torah was only for God's chosen people. Well, take a look at what God said through the prophet Isaiah about foreigners (Gentiles) who keep His commands. It seems that they get all of the blessings as well even before Paul's “olive tree and the wild branches” do. These are the words of Isaiah. As you have noticed, I prefer to use the entire scripture in context rather than pulling out a single verse and letting you guess at the context:

Isaiah 56

This is what the LORD says:
"Maintain justice
and do what is right,
for my salvation is close at hand

and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
Blessed is the man who does this,
the man who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it,
and keeps his hand from doing any evil."
Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the LORD say,
"The LORD will surely exclude me from his people."
And let not any eunuch complain,
"I am only a dry tree."

For this is what the LORD says:
"To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant-
to them I will give within my temple and its walls
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name

that will not be cut off.

And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD
to serve him,
to love the name of the LORD,
and to worship him,
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it
and who hold fast to my covenant-
these I will bring to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices

will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations."
The Sovereign LORD declares—
he who gathers the exiles of Israel:
"I will gather still others to them
besides those already gathered”

Here is a little clarification from Paul in his letter to the Ephesians:

Ephesians 2

“For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with the Messiah Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

Not only did God accept us when we were foreigners but now we are no longer foreigners but fellow citizens with God's chosen people. The word “citizen” denotes nationality. So we are now citizens of the Biblical “nation” of Israel. Let us take a look at how Paul explains our citizenship:

Romans 11

“Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!

I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

"The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins."

As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
"Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"
"Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?"
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.”

We do not support the root but the root supports us. We are the wild branches of the one true olive tree. Let us not forget the kindness and the sternness of God. Kindness to those who continue in His kindness and sternness to those who do not and are cut off. The greatest command is to Love the Lord God with all of your heart and Love your neighbor as yourself. How do we love God? By keeping His commands.

The Rabbi Hillel who was a contemporary of Yeshua, was asked if he would teach the entire Torah to a young man while the man was standing on one foot. Hillel replied “what you do not like, do not do to others. This is the Torah, the rest is commentary”.

His contemporary, Yeshua, taught a similar lesson when he said “the things that you like, do for others this is the Torah”. Is there a difference in these teachings? Hillel's approach emphasizes the negative commands (of which there are 365). Yeshua's approach not only emphasizes the 248 positive commands but also encompasses the rest by assuming that if we are always doing nice things for people then we obviously do not have the time or inclination to do evil. In this way we are fully able to keep the commands of God.

It is clear from the passages above that there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but one nation of God's chosen people. There are not two religions but one religion worshiping the one God through his Son Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah). This is what Paul is trying to say when he says “His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making Shalom (peace).” There only appears to be two religions because there are some of the chosen ones who reject Yeshua as the Messiah.