God’s Law/Torah

   The Law of God (His Torah) is His loving instruction for His people.  Simply put, it is His way of teaching us His will for our lives and acknowledging what sin is.  His Law is not burdensome nor is it bondage, rather it is the power of God working in us to accomplish true freedom - for when we humble ourselves before Him and obey His Commandments we crucify our flesh. 

When Yeshua (whom many call Jesus) came to Earth He established at the very beginning of His ministry that He DID NOT come to destroy the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them (“fully preach” is one definition of the Greek word pleroo).  He, the God who does not change, created a foundation for all who would call upon His name to stand on - His Torah.

There are many views concerning the Commandments of God.  Are the Ten Commandments separate from the rest of the Law?  Are any of the commandments for us as believers today?  Didn’t Jesus live out the law perfectly so that we don’t have to?  These and many more questions abound in the church today.  The best and only source to find answers is in the pages of God’s Word - the bible. 

First of all, we must understand what the term Law refers to in Scripture.  It refers to the first five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) - The Torah.  The Torah is God’s foundational, fundamental instructions for His people.  Detailing His role as Creator, Judge, Lawgiver, and Savior among others.

The Second thing we must look at are the words from God concerning the New Covenant.  This is the most misunderstood area of christianity today. 

      "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will 

    make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the

    house of Judah -

       Not according to the covenant that I made with their father  

    in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the 

    land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a 

    husband to them, says the LORD.

       But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of 

    Israel after those days, says the LORD:  I will put My law in 

    their minds, and write it on their hearts;  and I will be their 

    God, and they shall be My people."

                                                             Jeremiah 31:31-33

   We know that God is speaking of the New Covenant which was sealed in Christ’s sacrifice, because in the very next verse He says that He will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more. 

   Notice also that He says the house of Israel and the house of Judah, but then He says the house of Israel.  This is because the two will have been united under Messiah and we (Gentiles) have been grafted in among them into the Lord. 

The most astounding part, though, is that God will not only forgive iniquity and sin, but that He will write His law upon our hearts and minds!

     “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in 

      My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do 

      them.”

                 Ezekiel 36:27

        God, by the Holy Spirit will cause us to walk in His law

            (statutes, judgments, etc…) and we are supposed

                                 to keep and do them.

        Incidentally statutes and judgments, throughout Scripture, 

   always signify the "law of Moses".  Yet here it is shown that

   we will keep and do them by the power of God's holy Spirit.

   These passages are probably the strongest argument from God as to how we should view not only His law, but the New Covenant as well.  It is now established by the blood of Christ and carried out by the ministry of the Holy Spirit working in our hearts. 

   However, these are not the only passages that deal with the Law of God, in fact all of His Word reveals the Lord’s desire for us to walk in His ways and not our own.