Scripture must have a foundation upon which to build,
interpret and apply. The foundation of all scripture is and always will be the
Torah, the five books of Moses. There is no prophet and no wisdom literature
that would expressly negate the Torah. What is the Torah? Firstly, the
impression many people have of the Torah is, a group of laws given to the
Israelites [Jews], who could not keep them because the Torah was far beyond
what any person could keep in its entirety.
What is the Torah? We just asked that question! Most
bibles will translate the word Torah as 'law'.
Well is not this true? The answer is not cut and dried. The Torah is many
things. It is the terms of the covenant with G-d made at mount Sinai [Exodus],
it is marriage contract between G-d and his (chosen) people, Israel. It is the
constitution of Israel. It is the way of holy living that G-d expected of His
people, and according to not least of all, Shaul the shaliach (Paul the
apostle) recorded in Romans 2:13 "For it is not merely the hearers of Torah
whom G-d considers righteous; rather, it is the doers of what Torah says who
will be made righteous in G-d's sight.." a people without law are lawless [see
Mad Max, the movie], they are or are on the verge of anarchy. What could be
more perfect than the word of G-d from the mouth of G-d. The translators of
the Septuagint, the first translation of the TENACH (Jewish bible) into a
language other than Hebrew. The translators known as The Seventy translated
the word Torah into the Greek nomos, law. The word really means instructions
in the Hebrew.
The next question, in light of what many have done in
interpreting the 'New Covenant' writings, is, how did the word of G-d become
negated and obsolete when we read that the word of G-d stands (lasts) forever?
Isaiah 40:8? Likewise, we read in Isaiah 59: 16-21 which is a great messianic
passage, if not the greatest. Verse 21 reads "And as for me," says Adonai,
'this is my covenant with them: my Spirit, who rests rests on you, and my
words which I put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the
mouth of your children, or from the mouth of children's children, now or
ever," says Adonai. Yeshua says in Matthew 5:17,18 "Don't think that I have
come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to
complete. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so
much as a YUD (the smallest sized letter in the Hebrew alphabet) or a stroke
(decorative stylist penmanship of a scribe) will pass from the Torah -- not
until everything that must happen has happened."
What happened to the scriptures that tell us that G-d's
standard of righteousness will never pass away. How can we say the contrary to
what we are told. The answer is not overly simple but not overly difficult
either. It all depends where you are spiritually. Whether Jew or Christian in
religion. Many in the Jewish world would say that the Torah has very little
meaning in light of the distance in time and science since the Torah was
given, therefore there is little of relevance for us today. The Christian
might say that Jesus came to fulfill the law therefore once we are in Jesus
and he did it all, now we just have to believe in Him. The Law is only for
the Jews because they don't believe in Christ. Is any of this true? We need to
pursue this again next time.
