The Law and its Relationship to the Believer
Revised August 11, 2024
In the past, there have been discussions and arguments about the Old Testament’s relevance to the believer today. These opinions have ranged from one extreme, that the law of the Old Testament, after Jesus’s death, is not relevant to us today, to the other extreme, that since the law is God’s word, it cannot be ignored and compliance is still required. Jesus talked in various places about the Old Testament in the book of Matthew. To help us investigate this controversy, let us look at the words of Jesus, as recorded in Matthew Chapters 5 and 22.
Before starting that discussion, let’s focus on the Hebrew word “Torah,” which is used in Matthew and the controversy. The word “Torah” represents the title given to the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. “Torah” is also used to refer to the individual laws in the Old Testament books. In English, the Hebrew word “Torah” is generally translated as “law or commandments.” Depending on the context, other acceptable words could be “teaching,” “direction,” or “instruction.”
Let us begin the discussion of the controversy by looking at Jesus’s words concerning the Torah, as recorded in Matthew 5:17-19. This scripture reveals the controversy concerning the relevancy of the Old Testament.
Matthew 5:17-19 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. Amen, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or serif shall ever pass away from the Torah until all things come to pass. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Let’s begin in verse 17:
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.
Jesus clarifies with His words that He is not abolishing the Torah or the Prophets but fulfilling them.
Why did God have so many instructions and communicate them in such detail in His Torah? Was it because he wanted to make life complicated, limit our fun, make us feel negative about ourselves, and punish us?
No. He wanted to reveal to us in precise detail,
- who He is and how we are to relate to Him
- how we are to relate to our fellow human beings.
- what is good and what is evil,
- who we are,
- our sinfulness, and,
our need for righteousness.
What is the goal of the Torah? Paul, in Romans 10: 3 and 4, tells us the goal of the Torah is to bring us to Jesus as a means of righteousness. Jesus’s death fulfilled this goal and declared righteous those who trust in His works.
Romans 10: 3-4 For being ignorant of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. For Messiah is the goal of the Torah as a means to righteousness for everyone who keeps trusting.
Before Messiah’s sacrifice, it was believed the way to achieve righteousness was to keep the Torah perfectly. The Lord realized that perfection was impossible for fallen man and that when a man broke one part of the Torah, he was guilty of breaking it all. He provided a sacrificial system to restore man’s relationship with Him when man sinned. God showed us in Genesis 15:6 that righteousness comes from belief or faith. In speaking to Abraham 400 years before the law was given, He said,
6 Then he (Abraham) believed in Adonai and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Righteousness was, and has always been, based on faith, not works.
The sacrificial system underwent a transformation after Jesus’s death on the cross. It shifted from righteousness based on human works and the shedding of animal blood to righteousness based solely on Jesus’s death. This change, however, did not alter the system itself; it merely replaced the sacrifice. Since His selfless act on the cross, we, with firm faith in Jesus’ completed works, are no longer obligated to pay the penalty for breaking the law. Jesus has already paid the price for our sins; all we need to do is trust in His completed works on the cross for righteousness. In this way, He fulfills the righteousness goal of the law.
As we saw in Matthew 5, Verse 17, He says He came not to abolish but to fulfill. Does that mean the Torah has passed away because it has been fulfilled? No, it has not, and it must remain valid, as Jesus’s sacrifice continues to be the payment for our sins. Our righteousness is still based on the sacrificial system. The difference is that His perfect sacrifice was made once and for all times. If the sacrificial system had been abolished and there is no system, our sin cannot be atoned for by Jesus’s death, and when we sin, we are once again responsible for the payment of the death penalty.
When will it pass away? We find that answer in verse 18:
Amen, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or serif shall ever pass away from the Torah until all things come to pass.
Have the “all things” declared in verse 18 come to pass? They have not; therefore, the Torah will remain until they do. It remains because we still need its instruction, as we do not know how to live our acquired righteous life. When you became a believer, did you automatically begin living a pure and virtuous life? I know that I did not and sometimes still do not. I need instructions on how to live it. The Torah contains instructions on how to live this life. Thus, the Torah needs to remain. I am not allowed to make up my own instructions. Since the Torah remains, it can still be violated. The good news is that Jesus’s death fulfilled the penalty for all violations.
In a modern-day example of this principle, human law maintains that you must not exceed a certain speed when driving your car. If you are driving and exceed that certain speed, you have violated the law and must pay a penalty. If you go to court and someone else pays that penalty for you, you are set free. If later, you are caught speeding again, you are guilty again, and the penalty must be paid again. The law and the penalty have not been abolished.
It is the same way with the Torah. When we sin, we are guilty of sin. In the believers’ case, Jesus’s death guarantees ongoing payment for the sin, even though that death was 2000 years ago. The law remains and can be broken, but through His grace, the penalty portion has been forever paid and is fulfilled. The instructions for life contained in the Torah concerning how we live our lives are still applicable.
Even though the death penalty for our sins has been paid, there are still after-effects of our actions concerning commandments. Jesus continues teaching in verse nineteen.
19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus tells us that, depending on our actions toward the commandments, we may “be called great or least in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
As we read earlier in Romans 10: 3-4, Paul tells us that Jesus is the goal of the Torah, to bring us to righteousness. But is gaining righteousness the only purpose of the Torah? As we discussed, it also contains God’s instructions for living righteous lives.
Jesus teaches concerning these instructions in a confrontation that He has with the Pharisees. In Matthew 22:34-40, the Pharisees attempt to test Jesus by asking Him to identify the greatest of the commandments. This question aims to test Him and His understanding and interpretation of the Torah. They want to discredit Him and put an end to Him and His followers.
Before we read the following scripture, it is essential to note that a convenience we have in the Bible today is including chapter and verse numbers in the text. Readers of the original scrolls did not have that convenience. When someone wanted to reference a portion of the scripture, they would say the first few words or the passage’s main idea, and everyone would reference the entire passage. Jesus follows that practice in Matthew 22.
Matthew 22:34 But the Pharisees, when they heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, gathered together in one place. And testing Him, one of them, a lawyer, asked, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Torah?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
These two commands are based on the Old Testament Torah. Jesus’s first and greatest commandment is from Deuteronomy, Chapter 6, and is commonly called the “Shema.” Shema is the Hebrew word in verse 4 that means “hear,” it means much more than just the physical act of hearing sound vibrations; it also contains the direction of “hear and obey.” Deuteronomy 6:4- 9 includes the entire Shema. It is still the most critical command and is prayed daily in the morning and evening prayers of Jews.
Deuteronomy 6: 4-9 “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words, which I am commanding you today, are to be on your heart. You are to teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. Bind them as a sign on your hand, they are to be as frontlets between your eyes, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
This is the Old Testament reference to Jesus’s first and greatest commandment, which concerns our relationship with God. It gives us practical instructions on honoring him with our hearts, souls, bodies, families, houses, and gates.
Next, in Matthew 22, verse 39, Jesus continues:
39 And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The second commandment addresses our relationship with others and is found in Leviticus 19:18.
You are not to take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am Adonai.
He sums up the two most important instructions of the law by telling us:
- We are to love and honor God, and
- We are to love and honor others.
The entire law hangs on these two commandments. People have counted the commands and see 613 in the Old Testament. The 613 are just examples of living out these two commandments’ intent. These two deal with our hearts. As He has stated, these instructions have not been abolished because we continue to need them to assist us in expressing our love to God and our fellow man. As we look at our world today, many live as if these goals have been abolished since some believers and unbelievers continue to sin and do not treat God or others appropriately. We have not learned the relationship lessons taught in the Torah; thus, the Torah will not pass away until we have. Relationship issues concern the heart; our sinning will result in continual relationship issues with God and men, even though Jesus has paid the penalty for the sin.
In closing, I encourage you to hear Jesus’s words in Matthew 5 and 22, where He announces that there continues to be relevancy in the instruction of the Torah. The value is not, like in the Old Testament, that keeping the perfect works of the Torah will make us righteous. The breaking of the law still requires death, and we all have sinned and deserve death. Jesus’s death alone has provided our righteousness in the believer’s case. It is not based on our work. It is based on His work. Now that we have been declared righteous , let us look at the law as specific instructions or directions that allow us to better show our love to the Lord and others. In doing so, the law will not be seen as a burden but as a pleasure.
1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God—that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.