Chapter Three

The Torah A Way of Life

As we have already seen, the Torah is not for those who are yet unregenerate; the only functions it serves for them is to point out their sin and subsequently to condemn them for it. However, the Bible does teach that the Torah is to be the way of life for the redeemed community. Deuteronomy 30:14-15 comments on the Torah by saying, "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." Jeremiah 31:33 again emphasizes that for the believer, "I shall put My Torah within them, and on their heart I will write it." Psalm 119 is completely dedicated to the blessings of living according to the Torah.

The Brit Chadasha is equally clear-as long as the reader adheres to the interpretive principles outlined above. As far as Sha'ul's writings are concerned, most if not all of his exhortations on everyday living-in Jewish thinking, his halacha-are based on teachings from the Torah.

Moreover, we need to consider what Ya'acov (James) wrote to the Jewish believers in the diaspora. In his letter, he strongly urges them to follow Torah. Notice particularly what he says in 1:22-25. He likens the person who does not follow the Word of God to someone who looks into a mirror, walks away, and forgets what he looks like! When the natural man looks in a literal mirror, he sees a reflection of his physical being. When a new creation in Messiah looks into the perfect Torah (Ya'acov's language), he sees in its laws, decrees, commandments, judgments, and teachings a reflection of his new-creation self. This brings us to our next characteristic of Torah.

The Torah Reflects God's

Holiness, Goodness, and Righteousness

Rav Sha'ul set out to teach that the failure of the Torah to produce justification arises from man's misuse of it, not from any deficiency in the teachings themselves. As he points out in Romans 7:12, "So then, the Torah is holy, and the command is holy, and righteous, and good." We need to let ourselves feel the full impact of this verse. There are some who say that Romans 7 is talking about the end of the Torah. They assert that when Messiah came, we died to the Torah as if it were like a spouse who had died. Then, they contend, since the Torah is dead, we are now free to be "married" to Messiah.

How can the Torah be both dead to us and at the same time holy, righteous, and good? When Sha'ul writes, "We died to the law" (Romans 7:4), he is referring to the reality that we have ceased to relate to the Torah in our former legalistic manner Having died to that thinking and behavior, we are now free to live a life of grace, expressing God's Torah through Messiah.

What has changed is our relationship to the Torah. Before we were redeemed, the Torah condemned us for our sin and taught us about Messiah. If we attempted to follow the Torah or to participate in the Torah observant community, the Torah may also have helped to protect us until we reached the Teacher. But when we met the Teacher, the Messiah, everything changed. We died (Galatians 2:19-20)! In our new relationship with Him came a new relationship to Torah as well.

We can now confirm with Sha'ul that for us as believers, the Torah is holy, righteous and good. The words of the Torah are now our life (Deuteronomy 32:47). When we study Torah, we can learn a great deal about God Himself and His eternal attributes. And when we practice Torah, we are practicing that which is holy, righteous and good. We are also participating in our new life-the life of God.

Life's Built-in Reminders

The Torah lifestyle is brilliantly designed by God Himself according to His perfect knowledge of how we function as spiritual beings-seated in Messiah in the heavenlies, yet living on the earth. We need to be reminded continually of this glorious truth, because the "cares of this world" are always seeking to distract us from it. The Torah lifestyle was designed with built-in reminders of God's truths, helping us to remember our identity both as new creations in Messiah and as members of the redeemed and holy community.

A Jewish Reminder

There are several ways in which the Torah functions as a reminder First, it reminds Jewish people what it means to be Jewish. Perhaps you are a Messianic Jew Because of the excellent training in many fellowships on what it means to be "Messianic," there is little need to define this concept here.

But if we claim to be Messianic Jews, what does the "Jewish" part mean? Does being Jewish mean having an Israeli identification card, or a membership in the local Jewish Community Center? What defines Jewishness? There is only one authoritative place where we can learn and be continually reminded of our biblical Jewishness. This is in the Torah. As Orthodox Israeli Rabbi Shlomo Riskin so aptly put it: 'A Jewishness without Torah is an impossibility, a term devoid of meaning."'

Let us clarify There is a difference between being a Jewish person and living out our Jewishness. One's birth and ancestry determine whether one is Jewish or not. But only the Torah can define what Jewishness means, how to live out our Jewish birth.

To be sure, the Brit Chadasha continues the biblical definition of being Jewish. Rav Sha'ul clearly states the Torah definition and clarifies it. In Romans 2:28-29, he writes, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God." In other words, he is not denying the fact that a Jewish person is one by physical birth. But-understanding our definition of a Hebrew-he says that real Jewishness, or being a Hebrew, involves being born that way not just physically, but also spiritually, by the Spirit of God. The Torah (as well as the Brit Chadasha) adds meat to that definition and reminds us of what a Hebrew looks like.

There are other believers in Yeshua who were not born physical descendants of Abraham. Concerning these believers we are told,

Thus, in a spiritual sense, non-Jewish believers in Yeshua are also Hebrews; those who have crossed over like their spiritual father Abraham. It does not mean that they are Jewish people. It means that because they are both grafted in to Israel and share in the faith of Israel, they are like their father Abraham, having crossed over into God's call for their life by trusting in the Messiah of Israel.

For such (as well as the "natural branches," Jewish people by birth) the Torah also serves as a book of reminders. Reminders of what? Reminders that we are the people of God, the "called-out ones"-those who have crossed over. Let us see how this works.

We have already seen in the writings of Ya'acov that the word of God is our mirror One of the reasons we do not follow the Word is because we forget who we are! Accordingly, one of the greatest gifts God has given us is a lifestyle that helps us to remember-to remember the truth, to remember righteousness, and to remember who we are as new creations in Messiah.

The Torah describes a lifestyle of built-in daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly reminders. If we embrace the Torah, it will help us to live our lives in continual remembrance of who God called us to be. Let us look at some practical examples. As we go through some illustrations, try to catch a glimpse of this incredible gift from your all-knowing, all-loving, all-merciful and gracious God.

A Daily Reminder-The Tzttziot

Numbers 15:37-40 talks about one of the daily reminders found in the Torah. Each morning as we don our prayer shawl, we notice the fringe, or tzitzit (plural, tzitziot), hanging from each of its four corners-each with its specified blue cord. The Torah instructs us, "and you shall have the fringe, that you may look upon it and remember...." Remember, that is, to behave consistently with who you now are. We are no longer slaves in Egypt, but a royal priesthood, a holy nation.

As we put on our tzitziot, it can be helpful to pray along the following lines:

These final blessings are especially appropriate for putting on the tallit, or prayer shawl. Unfold the tallit, hold it in readiness to wrap around yourself, and recite the following:

Wrap the tallit around your body and head, then recite:

A Weekly Reminder-The Shabbat

How would you like to be given the gift of one day each week when you would not have to do all your regular daily work? You would have time to read and think about all of the following magnificent truths:

Being reminded of who I now am (through the mirror of James 1:22-25), I have a given day without pressure to practice living out who I am and not who I used to be. Unrestricted by the regular demanding activities of the weekday, my mind can be set on truth and on practicing these truths. I have time and energy to practice the truth.

In light of these thoughts, come to know the Shabbat rest spoken of as the true Good News in Hebrews 4. The redemptive work of Messiah in your life is a finished work. Who we once were is now dead and buried. We are now the righteousness of God in Messiah, a totally new creation. Know who you are! It is good news! "There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His." (Hebrews 4:9-i 1) In order for us to rest in the same way as God did, we have to discover from the Word in what way God did rest. We see in Bereshit (Genesis) 2:1-3 that God ceased from His work. The Hebrew word translated "ceased" is shavat tbf ,the word from which we get the term "Shabbat." Thus, the Torah tells us how God rests from His work.