Torah and the
Believer
By Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)
I. The Nazarean
Codicil and the Law
IV. The
penalties and substitutionary atonement
V. Who is the
Law addressed to?
VI. Look at the
effects of "lawlessness":
VII. Salvation
by grace through faith
VIII. The law brought
freedom, not bondage:
IX. The ten
commandments summed up
I.
The Nazarean Codicil[1] and the Law
The Law is GOOD. HaShem wants us to keep his law (Torah):
Romans 7:14-25 We know that the law is spiritual; but I
am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not
understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is,
it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that
nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire
to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I
want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. Now if I do
what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in
me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right
there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; But I see
another law at work in the members of my body, waging
war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at
work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this
body of death? Thanks be to God--through Yeshua Mashiach our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am
a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Romans 8:1-9 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Mashiach
Yeshua, Because through Mashiach Yeshua the law of the Spirit of life set me
free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in
that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in
the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in
sinful man, In order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully
met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the
Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on
what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have
their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death,
but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; The sinful mind is
hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are
controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God
lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Mashiach, he does not
belong to Mashiach.
I Corinthians 7:18-19 Was a man already circumcised
when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised
when he was called? He should not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and
uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands
is what counts.
I Yochanan (John) 5:1-3 Everyone who believes that Yeshua is the Mashiach is
born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 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,
Mishlei (Proverbs) 28:9 If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even
his prayers are detestable.
Romans 7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and
good.
I Timothy 1:8-11 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also
know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the
ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their
fathers or mothers, for murderers, For adulterers and perverts, for slave
traders and liars and perjurers--and for whatever else is contrary to the sound
doctrine That conforms to the glorious gospel of the
blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
Psalm 119
The Law is spiritual:
Romans 7:14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold
as a slave to sin.
The reception of the Law by Israel was a blessing:
Romans 9:3-4 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Mashiach
for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, The people of
All men may be divided into two classes: those who subject themselves to the Law of God, and those who are sinful:
Romans 8:6-15 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit
is life and peace; The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to
God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot
please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the
Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the
Spirit of Mashiach, he does not belong to Mashiach. But if Mashiach is in you,
your body is dead because of sin,
yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who
raised Yeshua from the dead is living in you, he who raised Mashiach from the
dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in
you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful
nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful
nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the
body, you will live, Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of
God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but
you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, <"Abba,>
Father."
The law was never designed to bring salvation to sinners:
Romans 3:19-28 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under
the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held
accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by
observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now
a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law
and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Yeshua Mashiach to all who
believe. There is no difference, For all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God, And are justified freely by his grace through
the redemption that came by Mashiach Yeshua. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to
demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- He did it to
demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to
be just and the one who justifies those who
have faith in Yeshua. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what
principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we
maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
Galatians 2:16 Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in
Yeshua Mashiach. So we, too, have put our faith in Mashiach Yeshua that we may
be justified by faith in Mashiach and not by observing the law, because by
observing the law no one will be justified.
II Luqas (Acts) 13:38 "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to
know that through Yeshua the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through
him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be
justified from by the law of Moses.
What was the divine purpose of the law?:
Romans 7:7-10 What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would
not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known
what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." But
sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,
produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.
Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to
life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to
bring life actually brought death.
The Law must be understood in terms of Mashiach, or be misunderstood:
Romans 3:19-26 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Yeshua Mashiach to all who believe. There is no difference