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A Dialogue on the Continuity of the Law

You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Deuteronomy 4:2. Should Christians keep the Torah?

The conversation below took place in an online forum more than ten years ago. I’m reproducing it here because that forum no longer exists, and I think the content is worth preserving.

[Original post] Jay Carper:

It seems to me that an honest reading of Scripture without antinomian prejudice can only lead to the conclusion that God’s Law has not been set aside, abrogated, annulled, or whatever synonym for canceled you might prefer.

Deuteronomy 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

1 Peter 2:21-22 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: (22) Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.

Matthew 5:17-19 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. (18) For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (19) Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Translation:

1) The Law of Moses says that no one may change the Law.
2) John said that anyone who violates the Law has sinned.
3) Peter said that Jesus never sinned.
4) Jesus said that he didn’t come to remove even a single ink mark from the Law and that anyone who does will be called the least in heaven.
5) If Jesus came to change the Law in even the smallest way, then he is a liar and a sinner, and he cannot be the Messiah.

I have never heard anything resembling a convincing counter argument. If you’ve got one, I’d love to hear it.

Jair:

That’s not too hard, everything is predicated on point 2 which is the weak link anyway.
1 John 3:4 is a peculiarity, the root of the word law in both instances is anomee’ah instead of nom’os, its the only time anomee’ah (for lack of text inserts right now) is rendered that way, in every other case it is rendered iniquity. The term in no case refers to the Law of Moses, though nom’os frequently does.

Sin may well be lawlessness, iniquity, wickedness etc. You could argue from this passage that Sin is a transgression of any given law that you are bound, but you couldn’t argue that sin is specifically a transgression of Mosaic law.

Thank God for that, because without cities of refuge, the Levies, the Priesthood, years of Jubilee, and on it is impossible for us to follow the Law of Moses. That was law was for a specific deal which people broke, God totally burned the bridge of following the law of Moses. He made sure we couldn’t pretend the deal was still on by destroying key things required to follow it. I have respect for anyone who tries to emulate its precepts, but no one can obey that law without saying ‘I’ll just do my best here’ and ‘I can’t do that so it doesn’t mater’ there.

Ironically, in trying to apply that deal to themselves people have to change much more than jots or iotas, they have to ignore or comprise the things they can’t do, and that is an insult to the law.

Mark Call:

No offense, Jair, but I’m solidly with Jay, and Yeshua, on this one.

Had He violated His own Written Word, in such places as Deut. 4:2 and 12:32, then He would have been a liar (including not only such references as Matt. 5, but many others, like John 5:47) and could not have been HaMashiach.

(This is, in fact, a very good reason that so many Torah-knowledgeable Jews reject a “Jesus” who supposedly “did away with” it. Many are thus shocked when they hear what “Yeshua the netzir” — a word they already know — actually said!)

But I’ve always considered any argument that relies on a Greek understanding which contradicts not only the Hebrew word, but the Torah itself, to be EXTREMELY suspect. “Nomos” is no better a rendering of the word “torah” than the English word “law” is, and it is very likely that many of the texts in the Brit Hadasha or “new” testament are translations of things originally penned in Hebrew as well.

(Speaking for myself, I will add that such “contradictions” were what originally led me to an agnostic rejection of the Bible as “contradictory”; what else could Mal. 3:6 mean by saying “I change NOT”? It was Greek “gods” who were capricious and untrustworthy, not YHVH Elohim.)

There are some things that CANNOT be done, Jair – and I see no problem with that, since one of the key principles of Torah understanding is discernment. Since I am not a king, or a wife, some things simply don’t apply to me. Same thing goes for certain sacrifices. (BTW, most of the “law done away” with crowd tend to miss a very important fact about “sacrifices” in general, and the Perfect Lamb in particular:
there IS no sacrifice in Torah for “rebellion”! The ramifications are profound…since He knew that “from the Beginning”.)

But good job, Jay; that’s about as good of a one-page summary as I’ve seen.

Jair:

It doesn’t rely on Greek, that’s just a side note, the point is that 1 John 3:4 does not say Law of Moses, there is nothing that says sin is specifically a violation of Mosaic law, just that it is a transgression of law in general.

But note that I never said Jesus changed or did away with Mosaic law either, insofar that that is Jays point point 4 stands on its own and the rest is immaterial.

Much more important than that is the idea that sin is a specifically a transgression of Mosaic law. God doesn’t change, but people do. The Law of Moses and its promises stood binding until all twelve tribes fell and their governments where wiped out due to constantly breaking their end of the deal.

You see that some things don’t apply because of gender, rank, heritage, or occupation. Why is it then a problem that things don’t apply because you are not a person with whom the deal was made? God made sure pretending to follow the Law of Moses as if it applied to you would be hollow by destroying things that where needed to follow it.

Part of discernment is knowing who you are and not applying everything the Bible says to yourself, that’s what the name it and claim it crowd do with anything they see as being good.

Jay Carper:

I haven’t had time to compose a response to your initial comment, Jair, so forgive me for skipping ahead…

For several years (5 or 6?) after realizing that the Torah still applied to the Jews, I said pretty much what your saying: The Law is still in effect, but what does that have to do with me?

Jeremiah 31:31-37 and the writings of Paul changed my mind. The New Covenant is the great hope of the gentiles. It is our way to adoption as sons of God. However, God told Jeremiah that he would make the New Covenant only with the houses of Judah and Israel: no gentiles allowed! Paul, relying on prophecies about “a people who are not a people” and “dry twigs” wrote that the gentile converts are grafted in to the tree of Israel. In the Messiah there is no Jew or Gentile–so far as salvation or entrance to the New Covenant is concerned–because they are all on an equal footing as citizens of Israel.

When a person becomes a citizen of a new nation, he adopts that nation’s laws. He cannot take his old nation’s laws with him and expect his conduct to be excused by the new government.

If the Torah still stands for Jews, then it still stands for all believers.

Mark Call:

I like Jay’s explanation, Jair, but would add another observation.

I’m not particularly fond of the limitation implied by the very terminology, “Law of Moses”, and think it is misleading. (In part, but not only, because of the occasional use of the term ‘torah’ to refer to the Pentateuch. Depending on context, “torah” can mean more.)

“Torah” literally is ‘teaching and instruction’. Yeshua used words translated into English as “torah and prophets” when He referred to what “is Written”. But note that Adam walked with God, and that Noah obviously knew which animals were “clean” and which were “unclean” long before that teaching and understanding were even Written down.

I contend that the “Law” (think “Law of Gravity”) was in place when the “Foundations were laid”. His “teaching and instruction” are a function of His design, and what He has Written about all of it is for our blessing, if we have “eyes to see”.

Jair:

Jay,
But that’s the thing, I can’t see how the legal system of Israel laid down in the time of Moses actually applies even Rabbinic Jews. They cannot honour it, they have to leave out chunks that they simply can’t do and in observing here and leaving out there they force that Law to change, and that is exactly what Jesus said not to do as per point 4 and Deuteronomy said not to do as of your first quotation.

I have no quibble with with the doctrine of adoption as you laid it out here.

Mark,
Yes, teaching and instructions goes beyond the Law of Moses. But the term Law of Moses was used in point 1. For clarity by the Law of Moses I mean specifically the legal system laid down for Ancient Israel by God and the promises tied directly too it. I should double check with Jay to see if that is close enough to what he means by the term. There are eternal ethics (or, eternal laws), but that does not mean that there are temporal or case by case ethics as well. The Law of Moses was a deal with a specific people under specific conditions. The histories and the Prophets detail those people violation those conditions, and the captivities show the deal ending. God promises to make another deal if they turn to him, but it is a different deal.

Your point about Noah knowing clean animals goes to show that cleanliness of animals goes beyond that time and government, I would say that is along the lines of an eternal law, though even then I would make exceptions in the case of starvation.

Mark Call:

I don’t necessarily disagree, Jair.

I just note, however that often the specific term, “Law of Moses”, is used to mean “that which does not apply to ME”.

Since I have come to regard ALL of His Torah, meaning “teaching and instruction”, as valuable for things like reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, and a lamp to my own feet, I can do so far less legalistically.  😉

Jay Carper:

There are definitely parts of the Law that cannot be obeyed today. Those who would try are in the same basic situation as the Jews of the Babylonian exile. The Temple had been destroyed, and they were not allowed to travel Jerusalem anyway. But that shouldn’t be a deterrent.

Perfect obedience was probably always impossible. We just try to play the best game we can with the cards we’ve been dealt. Our salvation is through faith in God’s forbearance and not in strict obedience to the codified Torah.

Jay Carper:

Finally getting around to responding to your initial comment, Jair. I’m enjoying the dialog!

That’s not too hard, everything is predicated on point 2 which is the weak link anyway. -Jair

No, point 4 is the most important. Even if John’s reference to sin and law is irrelevant, Yeshua would still be a liar if he actually did come to remove anything from the Torah.

1 John 3:4 is a peculiarity, the root of the word law in both instances is anomee’ah instead of nom’os, its the only time anomee’ah (for lack of text inserts right now) is rendered that way, in every other case it is rendered iniquity. The term in no case refers to the Law of Moses, though nom’os frequently does. -Jair

Anomia isn’t translated “law” here either, not even in the KJV. It’s translated “transgression of the law,” which is essentially the same thing as lawlessness or iniquity. Therefore, sin = lawlessness. To what law could John have been referring but the Law of God? In every case, both anomos and anomia refer to breaking God’s commands found in Torah, i.e. the Law of Moses. I would have checked every instance of nomos also, but there were 195 of them listed in the KJ Concordance! The first dozen or so bore out the same pattern.

Sin may well be lawlessness, iniquity, wickedness etc. You could argue from this passage that Sin is a transgression of any given law that you are bound, but you couldn’t argue that sin is specifically a transgression of Mosaic law. -Jair

No, you couldn’t argue that sin is the transgression of any law. (Well, you can argue it, but that doesn’t make it true.) That might be a literal interpretation of the word, but that is clearly not the way it is used throughout the NT writings. It is always used in reference to Torah.

Jay Carper:

Thank God for that, because without cities of refuge, the Levites, the Priesthood, years of Jubilee, and on it is impossible for us to follow the Law of Moses. That was law was for a specific deal which people broke, God totally burned the bridge of following the law of Moses. He made sure we couldn’t pretend the deal was still on by destroying key things required to follow it. I have respect for anyone who tries to emulate its precepts, but no one can obey that law without saying ‘I’ll just do my best here’ and ‘I can’t do that so it doesn’t mater’ there. -Jair

God said that he would never reject Israel nor his covenant with them. It doesn’t matter that they broke it. God still promised to keep it. He said that he would never forget them and never destroy them, but that if they would repent, he would be waiting to accept them back.

Leviticus 26:44-45 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. (45) But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.

Ironically, in trying to apply that deal to themselves people have to change much more than jots or iotas, they have to ignore or comprise the things they can’t do, and that is an insult to the law. -Jair

I don’t know if the law can be insulted or offended by one who is under the covering of Yeshua. We do not owe our allegiance to the commands, but to the commander. Obeying his commands, which he has never retracted and never can without breaking his word, as well as we are able can only honor him.

Jair:

Mark,
With that said we are saying pretty well the same thing, cool.

Jay,
I think the shortest way to reply would be to point out that Leviticus 26 isn’t talking about our forefathers but the forefathers of Israel, Abraham, Isaac and Israel himself. All of whom lived before the Law of Moses was given. Gods Covenant with the children of Israel goes beyond that specific legal system, it existed before it and continues to exist after it. Just to be clear I never said God rejected Israel.

I’m very sure that the law can be offended by people covered by Christ, its no doubt plagues could have been minimized by valuing the precepts concerning sanitation. But one way or the other we are not talking about retracting commands, we are talking about trying to follow commands given to other people. Our standing orders are different than those of pre captivity Israel, and he made sure we knew it by making sure we couldn’t actually follow the wrong set of orders.

Jay Carper:

“Offending” was a poor choice of words on my part. “Insulting” was better. I didn’t mean to imply that the commands couldn’t be broken. I was thinking more along the lines of being accountable to the law as an entity in itself.

I agree that the Torah is not the covenant itself, and that it existed before Mt. Sinai.
I disagree that we are talking about commands given to other people. God was clear that the New Covenant is only with the houses of Israel and Judah (together being the nation of Israel) and no one else. If anyone becomes party to that covenant, then they become one with Israel also, sons of Abraham, just like the mixed multitude who came out of Egypt in the Exodus.

Mark Call:

Very good, Jay. I often ask folks, “well, would you like to be ‘grafted in’, or not?”

Jair:

If we aren’t talking about being accountable to the law as an entity in itself I’m not sure we are actually disagreeing anywhere.

To be clear I agree that all of Israel in all time including those ‘grafted in’ are under the Covenant with Abraham, which is neither new nor old, but just is. However only those who lived in the Nation of Israel from the time of Moses to the captivity are bound to say, observe Jubilee as a moral obligation to that covenant.

Jay Carper:

“As a moral obligation to the covenant…”

I would call it a moral obligation to the God with whom we have covenanted. I do not believe that God’s Law is unique to a particular covenant, but rather it is the standard to which he holds his people. When we come into covenant with God, his standards, as the rules of his house, automatically apply.

Jair:

If we aren’t talking about being accountable to the law as an entity in itself I’m not sure we are actually disagreeing anywhere.

To be clear I agree that all of Israel in all time including those ‘grafted in’ are under the Covenant with Abraham, which is neither new nor old, but just is. However only those who lived in the Nation of Israel from the time of Moses to the captivity are bound to say, observe Jubilee as a moral obligation to that covenant.

Jay Carper:

You’ll get no argument from me there. Laws about saddles don’t apply to me because I don’t have any animals that wear saddles. Laws about sacrifices don’t apply directly to me either, because there is no Temple at which a sacrifice could be made. There are definitely valuable lessons to be drawn from those laws, but the laws themselves don’t apply. Many laws did not apply to Moses even after he had written them. He wasn’t a woman. He didn’t have a stone house. He wasn’t a king.

Jair:

In turn I will readily agree that Jesus did not do away with or change what most modern Christians supposed him too, and that your argument against said change is to my knowledge unbeaten.

Jay Carper:

LOL. Thanks!

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Parsha Vayakhel – Apostolic Readings, Commentary, and Videos

New Testament passages to read and study with Torah portion Vayakhel (Exodus 35:1=38:20), plus commentary and videos. Torah for Christians.

Readings

  • Exodus 35:1-36:38
    • Matthew 25:13-46
    • Luke 16:1-17
    • Acts 3:1-10
    • 1 Corinthians 12-13
  • Exodus 37:1-38:20
    • Matthew 23:16-22
    • Mark 13:1-2
    • 1 Peter 2:4-10
    • Revelation 1:11-2:7
    • Revelation 11:1-4

Additional Reading

Videos Related to Parsha Vayakhel

  • Grace Given to Each of Us, Romans 12:3 – Grace isn’t a divinely bestowed super power. It’s unobligated favor, an honor bestowed on one person by another. Just as God showed Paul grace in making him a teacher and evangelist, he graces every person in his kingdom with a unique set of skills and a mission to accomplish for the his glory and for the growth of his kingdom. That doesn’t mean we all have a commission as high as Paul’s, but as Paul pointed out elsewhere, every part of a body is important, no matter how lowly it might seem.
  • Who Are the Lost Sheep of Israel in Matthew 10:6? – Who are the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” that Yeshua spoke of in this passage? The context seems to indicate that he can’t have meant the Ten Lost Tribes or he would have said “Go among the Gentiles and enter the towns of the Samaritans”, not “don’t go”.
  • Of Mice, Men, Ants, and Lions – We all have strengths and weaknesses. Nobody is the best at everything and nobody is the worst at everything. We need to support each other to make up for our weaknesses and we need to focus on our strengths to be the best we were created to be.
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What Does “Help Meet” Mean?

Eve was created to be a help meet for Adam, but what does that really mean? What does the Torah say about marriage for the Christian?

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
Genesis 2:18

Men and Women are Not the Same

According to Adam Clarke (Commentary on the Bible), the Hebrew for “help meet for him,” ezer kenegdo, “implies that the woman was to be a perfect resemblance of the man, possessing neither inferiority nor superiority, but being in all things like and equal to himself.” He was right to an extent.

Mankind, both male and female, is unique among God’s breathing creations, those beings that Scripture calls nephesh, or souls. This is confusing to many English speakers because we often use the terms “soul” and “spirit” interchangeably, but they don’t mean the same thing in the Bible. A soul is a living being, while a spirit is the incorporeal part of a person that carries on the essence of the person after the body dies.1

Eve was like Adam in that she was of the same kind of being, mankind, somewhere between angel and beast. Like Adam, Eve was a living soul in possession of a body, spirit, and mind. She shared his divine mission of caring for the Garden and, by extension, the whole Earth. She shared in his authority and in his role as a connection between the eternal Creator and his temporal creation.

But Eve was never “a perfect resemblance of the man, possessing neither inferiority nor superiority.”2 The physical differences between men and women are obvious. Sane people do not allow men to compete in women’s athletic events, even if those men are pretending to be women. Every society that has every existed has recognized the sexual dimorphism of humanity, sorting men and women into activities that are best suited to their capabilities. Among hunter-gatherers, men almost always do the hunting, fighting, and heavy lifting, while women almost always do the gardening and textile work, which might be even more challenging in their ways, but don’t require the same strength or speed.3

The mental differences are intuitively apparent to most people. Think of the joke about men being a machine with a single switch and women being another machine covered in switches, dials, gauges, and buttons without a hint of what they’re supposed to do. The joke is an exaggeration, of course, but still close enough to the truth to be funny. The mind is significantly more opaque than the body, so the differences between the sexes is harder to quantify, but the work of many reputable researchers, astute observers of human behavior, and less reputable (but possibly more effective) proponents of dating Game, have established their existence and general parameters beyond reasonable argument.

The spiritual differences between men and women are not so obvious. They are evident, however, in the spiritual and hierarchical roles into which men and women have almost universally organized their activities, in the Creation story of Genesis, and in the many scriptural examples of and references to the differently ordained roles of men and women.

Consider just a handful of many dozens of examples:

  • God repeatedly chose a younger son to inherit the covenants and promises of Abraham, never a daughter, although their wives and daughters certainly participated in those covenants. (Genesis)
  • When God chose someone to lead Israel out of Egypt, he chose Moses rather than Miriam. Only men were appointed by Moses as leaders over the people at God’s direction. Only the sons of Levi are permitted to serve at the Tabernacle and only the sons of Aaron to serve at the altar, although their wives and daughters enjoy some of the benefits of that service.  (Exodus, Numbers)
  • The land of Israel is passed from father to son and only to a daughter if the man had no sons. A woman joins the tribe of her husband–never the other way around–and so a daughter who inherits her fathers land must marry a man of her own tribe in order to keep the land intact. (Numbers)
  • God gave fathers the explicit right to annul the vows of their wives and daughters, but not of their sons, and Paul twice wrote of the obligation of wives to respect and obey their husbands. (Numbers 30, Ephesians, Colossians)

At about this point, some readers might be thinking to themselves, “My! What a misogynist!” But how so? If I say that elms make better shade than palms, does that mean I am somehow anti-palm trees? If I say that dump trucks haul more rocks than do refrigerated panel vans, am I saying anything against refrigerated panel vans? Of course not, to both questions. I am merely pointing out that some things are better at one thing than another.

I am also not saying that women have no legitimate role in ministry or leadership. Although men are more suited to many kinds of leadership and a preponderance of women in leadership is almost certainly a symptom of a society in trouble, God never said, “Thou shalt not suffer a woman to lead.” Scripture records a number of prophetesses and one God-ordained woman who served as the national Judge of Israel at a time when men were weak and cowardly.

Men and women are different physically, mentally, and spiritually, and it would be impossible for them to be equally suitable to performing the same tasks or filling the same roles. To insist otherwise is actually anti-man and anti-woman by disregarding their unique strengths and weaknesses.

A Help Meet for Him

If it’s not clear already, the term “help meet” (often mistakenly given as “help mate”) doesn’t mean that Eve was created to be Adam’s slave. In fact, Moses and David both used the same word to refer to God as their own helper. (Exodus 18:4, Psalm 33:20, 70:5) Surely they didn’t think of YHVH as a personal servant to be summoned and ordered about at will! God is the indisputable superior in those relationships, yet he is still called a helper.

In Ezekiel 12:14, God refers to the personal attendants–whether guards, aides, or mercenaries–of the King of Judah with this same word. So ezer ultimately implies neither inferiority nor superiority. Rather than a servant, ezer implies an ally, an indispensable supporter, and even a rescuer.

The Hebrew phrase ezer kenegdo literally translates to “a helper suitable to him”–“Meet” is an archaic English synonym of “suitable”–and by itself the word doesn’t necessarily imply any kind of hierarchal relationship at all.

So then what does it mean for Eve to be a help meet for Adam?

The fact that she was made specifically for Adam’s purposes, and not for her own, demonstrates that God’s intended purpose for her was to assist Adam in his divinely appointed mission, not to launch a separate mission of her own.

Genesis 2:15 says that God placed Adam in the Garden to keep it, but he immediately recognized that Adam could not effectively perform the task unaided, and so v18 says “It is not good that the man should be alone.” Before God created Eve, he brought all of the animals to Adam to examine and name them. The naming is explicit in the text, while the examination is implied by the context and the ancient Hebrew practice of naming a thing according to its character and behavior.

The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.
Genesis 2:20

A Perfect Complement

One of the purposes of this naming exercise was to demonstrate to Adam that none of these lesser creatures could ever be an adequate help in Adam’s primary task of caring for the Garden. God created Eve immediately afterward and, from God’s reaction, we can know that Adam was acutely aware of the animals’ entire deficiency:

Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
Genesis 2:23

Eve was like Adam in a manner that no other creature could approach. She walked on two feet and manipulated the world with hands, fingers, and opposable thumbs, just like Adam. She spoke, laughed, reasoned, and loved like Adam, and, like Adam, she was, in her being, the image of God and carried within her the same breath that God exhaled into him.

God didn’t create Eve merely to be Adam’s friend, but she was his friend more profoundly than any of the animals could ever be. A horse can bear a man across country, a dog can show him affection, and an ox can help him plow a field, but none of these can carry on a conversation, help him solve a complex problem, bear his children, or offer him any wisdom. A wife can do all of these things and more.

Eve was Adam’s perfect complement.

It is abnormal for a woman to lead a nation or to be a spiritual teacher over men, but it is certainly no sin, and it is sometimes quite necessary. When a woman steps into a leadership role because the man who should be there is unavailable, unable, or unwilling, she is, in fact, fulfilling her purpose as a “helper suitable to Adam”. It’s a long way from God’s original ideal, but, in his wisdom, his plan included remedies for less than ideal conditions, and we should all thank God for women who are willing to step up to leadership roles when men fail!

God created Adam and appointed him to a task before he created Eve. From this we know that Eve’s purpose is to aid Adam. But God also purposefully created Adam incomplete and unable to perform the task to which he had been set, so that he would love Eve and fully appreciate his need for her.

I suspect that we would all live happier, more fulfilling lives if we didn’t fight so hard against God’s plan and instead used it as a blueprint for our marriages, families, and civil governments.

End Notes

1 Major tangent: Like God, man is a tripartite being, a living soul, made up of body, spirit, and mind. Our bodies are made up of numerous, complex organs and systems that are also made up of complex, interconnected systems. Our consciousnesses, the part of our thoughts and minds that can’t be dissected and objectively measured, also appear to contain separate systems and components. What about our spirits? We know almost nothing about them, and anyone who claims otherwise is most likely either a con-artist or under demonic influence. However, we do know that God’s Spirit is seven-fold in some manner (Isaiah 11:2; Revelation 1:4, 3:1, etc.) and probably more complex in ways that we couldn’t possibly understand. What might that say about our own spirits? Or about the anatomy (for lack of a better word) of the rest of God? Purely academic questions, of course. There’s no way to answer them and probably little value in spending a lot of time thinking about it.

2 I’m sure Clarke never meant to imply that men and women are equal in a mathematical sense, but many people to day really do believe his statement to be literally true despite all evidence and reason.

3 Goldberg, Stephen. The Inevitability of Patriarchy. New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc., 1974. 228. “…the central fact is that men and women are different from each other from the gene to the thought to the act and that emotions that underpin masculinity and femininity, that make reality as experienced by the male eternally different from that experienced by the female, flow from the biological natures of man and woman…the women of every society have taken the paths they have not because they were forced by men but because they have followed their own imperatives.”

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Parsha Chukat – Apostolic Readings, Links, and Videos

New Testament passages for studying with Torah portion Chukat (Numbers 19:1-22:1), with links to commentary and videos. Torah for Christians.

Readings

  • Numbers 19:1-20:13
    • Matthew 23:27-39
    • Mark 12:26-27
    • Luke 8:22-25
    • John 11:14-45
    • Romans 8:26-39
    • 1 Corinthians 10:1-6
    • Hebrews 9:13-24
  • Numbers 20:14-22:1
    • Matthew 10:40-42
    • John 3:10-21
    • John 4:4-14
    • James 3:3-18
    • Revelation 18:1-24
    • Revelation 21:5-8

Additional Reading

Videos Related to Parsha Chukat

  • The Revelation of the Wicked in Matthew 23:13-39 – God allows the righteous to be persecuted for to refine them and to reveal the hearts of the wicked. Don’t be afraid of persecution. Don’t seek it out, but welcome it when it comes, because it means that God is refining you and preparing to judge the wicked.
  • Matthew 10:40-42 and the Risks of Rewarding Righteousness – If you trust someone as an expert in their field, you also trust whomever they send out as their representatives in that field. You impute the competence of the master to the journeyman technician under his employ. If you refuse to trust the technician, you are also refusing to trust the master. In the same way, we trust Yeshua because we trust YHWH, and if we reject the Son, we are also rejecting the Father.
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Parsha Matot – Readings, Links, and Videos

New Testament passages to study with Torah portion Matot (Numbers 30-32), plus links to commentary, and videos. Torah for Christians.

Readings

  • Numbers 30-31
    • Matthew 5:33-37
    • 1 Corinthians 7:10-16
    • 1 Corinthians 11:3-16
    • Ephesians 5:22-33
    • Colossians 3:18-21
    • Hebrews 6:13-18
    • James 4:13-17
  • Numbers 32
    • Matthew 21:33-44?
    • Romans 8:31-39
    • Romans 12:16-21
    • 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24?
    • James 4:1-12
    • Revelation 2:12-17
    • Revelation 7:4-8

Additional Reading

Videos Related to Parsha Mattot

  • Achen’s crime in Joshua 6-7 – Achen took loot from Jericho that God had devoted to destruction. Why throw away all that gold and silver when he could put it to good use? The former owners were dead, so who was he hurting? He soon learned that many so-called victimless crimes aren’t so victimless after all. Joshua 6:17-19, 7:1,5,24-26
  • Achen vs the Two Spies – In Joshua 6, Achen violated the rules of engagement with Jericho and his whole family was destroyed for it. Why was it acceptable for Joshua and the two spies to violate those same rules?
  • Joshua and the Gibeonites, part 1 – In Joshua 9, the Gibeonites tricked Joshua into a covenant that violated God’s instructions on how to deal with the Canaanites who lived in the Promised Land. Israel painted themselves into a corner that could have been avoided if they had stopped to ask God’s counsel.
  • Joshua 13: Never forget why you’re fighting – God reminded Joshua that he was old and coming to the end of his life yet the conquest of Canaan was far from complete. He had to get back to the higher priority of assigning inheritance in the land.
  • Inheritance on the east side of the Jordan – Joshua chapter 13 describes the inheritance of Gad, Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh east of the Jordan. God’s original plan appeared to have been that all twelve tribes would inherit land on the west side of the Jordan. Was this really okay that they took land on the east side?
  • Don’t Avenge Yourselves – Romans 12:19 – “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord” does not mean we shouldn’t pursue justice or restitution, but it does mean that we shouldn’t be trying to get even, to make other people hurt just because they made us hurt. Our goal should always be to make the world a better place, not to make everyone equally miserable.
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Parsha Emor – Apostolic Readings, Links, and Videos

New Testament passages to study with Torah portion Emor (Leviticus 21-24), plus links to commentary and videos. Torah for Christians.

Readings

  • Leviticus 21
    • Luke 10:30-37
    • John 19:31-37
    • Romans 7:1-2
    • 1 Corinthians 6:15-20
    • 1 Timothy 3
  • Leviticus 22-23
    • Matthew 12:1-14
    • John 7:1-11
    • 1 Corinthians 10:18-22
    • Colossians 2:6-23
    • 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15
    • Revelation 21:9-27
  • Leviticus 24:1-23
    • Matthew 12:25-32
    • Matthew 14:13-21
    • Romans 12:16-21

Additional Reading

Videos Related to Parsha Emor

  • The Gates of Proverbs 31 – Why is a statement about a man in the gates placed in the middle of a chapter about the ideal wife? Because without her, he wouldn’t be there. A man’s reputation and standing in the community is directly related to his wife’s competence, wisdom, and support. Be very careful in your choice of a mate. A good woman can make your life amazing. A bad woman can make your life miserable.
  • Marriage and Resurrection in Matthew 22:23-32 – When the Sadducees tried to trap Yeshua using the levirate marriage law in Matthew 22, they put their ignorance of Scripture on full display. The very commandment they cited proved their foolishness.
  • Under a Husband and Under the Law in Romans 7:1-3 – This passage does not say that the Law dies or that the commandments in the Law are not for all Christians today. It’s about authority relationships, not the applicability of Torah.
  • Proverbs 31:1-9 and the Burdens of Authority – King Lemuel’s mother warned him against any indulgences in pleasures that might compromise his judgment, specifically women and alcohol. There’s nothing especially wrong with either one, but it’s important to keep everything in it’s proper time and proportion. And the greater your authority, the more disciplined you need to be.
  • The Rules of Sabbath in Matthew 12:1-14 – If you find yourself worrying about exactly where the limit is between “allowed” and “forbidden”, then you’re missing the point of Shabbat. It’s a friendlier KYSS principle: Keep Your Sabbath Simple.
  • Passover and Manna in Joshua 5:10-12 – There’s a lot going on in Joshua 5:10-12. If you don’t know the laws about Passover and First Fruits, you might miss it.
  • The Spring Feasts with Ryan White – Ryan White joined the Common Sense Bible Study crew to talk about the history and prophetic significance of God’s Spring Feasts.
  • Shavuot Calendar Controversies – Some people keep Shavuot on one day, some on another. Are some of those people simply rejecting the plain words of God?
  • Shavuot: God’s Independence Day – Shavuot is a bit of an oddball among God’s feast days. It’s not clear from the biblical text exactly what it’s about, but there are some amazing parallels with the Exodus that give us some big clues.
  • Shmini Atzeret – The Last Great Day before the Next Day – We usually say that Sukkot (aka Tabernacles) is the last of the Biblical Fall Feasts, but what about Shmini Atzeret, the Eighth Day Assembly that immediately follows Sukkot. We think of it as the eighth day of Sukkot, but the sacrifices and rules of Sukkot don’t apply on this day. It’s like a bonus reprieve from the trials of both the Wilderness and the Promised Land, an extra day we get to spend with God before returning to the battles of life.
  • Colossians 2, the Sabbath, and God’s Appointed Times – This passage is often interpreted to mean God doesn’t care if his people keep any of his appointed times (Sabbath, Passover, etc.), but is that really a reasonable interpretation? Can God’s commandments be called “philosophy and empty deceit”?
  • Matthew 9:14-17 and the Three Fasting Parables – What do garments and wineskins have to do with fasting? What did Yeshua mean by these parables? The key to understanding this passage is realizing that it contains no parables at all. The bridegroom, the garment, and the wineskins are analogies, not parables, and it’s important not to take an analogy further than the author intended.
  • What Is Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? – If there’s a sin that can never be forgiven, you need to know what it is so that you can avoid it! Fortunately, Matthew 12:31-32 contains a parallelism that defines that sin, and it is a really big deal. If you have already begun to slip into this sin, you need to get on your knees and into the Word ASAP!
  • Don’t Avenge Yourselves – Romans 12:19 – “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord” does not mean we shouldn’t pursue justice or restitution, but it does mean that we shouldn’t be trying to get even, to make other people hurt just because they made us hurt. Our goal should always be to make the world a better place, not to make everyone equally miserable.
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Parsha Behar – Apostolic Readings, Links, and Videos

New Testament passages to study with Torah portion Behar (Leviticus 25:1-26:2), plus links to commentary and videos.

Reading

  • Leviticus 25:1-38
    • Matthew 6:19-34
    • Luke 4:16-41
    • Ephesians 1:11-14
  • Leviticus 25:39-26:2
    • John 13:12-20
    • Romans 3:21-31
    • Ephesians 6:5-9
    • Colossians 3:1-17

Additional Reading

Videos Related to Parsha Behar

  • Everyone Serves Multiple Masters – Everyone serves multiple masters all the time, so what did Yeshua mean when he said “No one can serve two masters” in Matthew 6:24? Yeshua frequently used hyperbole in his teachings and this is a good example. He was using an exaggerated statement to teach this principle: When there’s a conflict in the instructions of two masters, what determines who you will obey? Is it money, security, prestige, etc.? Or is it God, the ultimate arbiter of all right and wrong?
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Parsha Ha’azinu – Apostolic Readings, Links, and Videos

New Testament passages to study with Torah portion Ha'azinu (Deuteronomy 32), plus links to commentary and videos.

Readings

  • Deuteronomy 32
    • Luke 3:7-9
    • Luke 6:46-49
    • John 18:1-18
    • Romans 11:7-24
    • Jude 1:9
    • Revelation 11
    • Revelation 15

Additional Reading

Videos Related to Parsha Ha’azinu

  • Did Jesus Blaspheme in Matthew 9:1-8? – Matthew 9:1-8 is puzzling. What was blasphemous about telling a man his sins are forgiven? Were the scribes just mad because Yeshua was claiming to be God? It’s not that simple. To really understand what’s going on in this passage, you need to understand how the Jews believed sin and sickness were related.
  • Who Is the Guest without Wedding Garments in Matthew 22:1-14? – -In the parable of the royal wedding feast in Matthew 22:1-14, who is the guest without wedding clothes? How did he get into the feast and where exactly does the king command his servants to throw him?
  • Marriage and Resurrection in Matthew 22:23-32 – When the Sadducees tried to trap Yeshua using the levirate marriage law in Matthew 22, they put their ignorance of Scripture on full display. The very commandment they cited proved their foolishness.
  • Prophetic Patterns in Revelation – Tony Robinson of Restoration of Torah Ministries joined the Common Sense Bible Study community for a live conversation about the literary and thematic patterns that can help make sense of the Book of Revelation!
  • Paul, Jonah, and the Nations. Romans 11:11-12 – How did the failure of the Jews to accept their Messiah mean riches for the Gentiles? In the same way that the failure of Israel to repent in Jonah’s day meant riches for at least one generation of the people of Ninevah. The ministries of Paul and Jonah are parallel in many ways. Jonah can even be thought of as the first apostle to the nations, a foreshadowing of Paul’s ministry.
  • The Firstfruits and the Root in Romans 11:16 – What does “firstfruits” and “root” refer to in Romans 11:16? The context makes it clear. This chapter is talking about how God will never forsake the natural branches of Israel because of the promises he made to Israel’s patriarchs. The firstfruit of the dough and the root of the tree are the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
  • Native and Wild Branches in Romans 11:23-24 – Very few native branches of Israel were left on the tree after the first few centuries of Christianity, so that today both the native and the wild branches need to be grafted back into the olive tree of Israel. God has promised that he will restore the genetic descendants of Jacob, and he has the power to do it!
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Parsha Shemot – Apostolic Readings, Links, and Videos

New Testament readings to study with Torah portion Sh'mot (Exodus 1-5), plus links to commentary and videos.

Readings

  • Exodus 1:1-2:25
    • Matthew 2:1-18
    • Luke 2:41-52
    • Acts 5:25-33
    • Acts 7:17-29
    • Acts 8:3-8
    • Romans 13:1-7
  • Exodus 3:1-4:13
    • Matthew 2:19-23
    • Mark 16:14-20
    • Luke 11:14-23
    • Acts 7:30-34
    • 1 Peter 2:15-21
  • Exodus 4:14-6:1
    • Matthew 11:27-30
    • Matthew 23:29-39
    • Romans 8:12-30

Additional Reading

Videos Related to Parsha Sh’mot

  • The Hebrews in Egypt with Dr. Douglas Petrovich – Is there really any evidence that the Hebrews lived in Egypt before the Exodus? Yes! Dr. Petrovich shared some of his research and thoughts with us in this live conversation.
  • When Is It OK to Lie? – There are times when it is OK to lie, according to the Bible, but those times are rare exceptions. Honesty is almost always better! Proverbs 1:10-19
  • The Man of Violence – Proverbs 3:31-32. God hates the man of violence, but what makes a man “of violence”?
  • YHWH Tsevaot in Joshua 5:13-15 – Was it an angel that appeared to Joshua in Joshua 5 or was it God himself?
  • Proverbs 22:1 and Choosing a Good Name – A “good name” doesn’t have anything to do with what’s printed on your birth certificate. You can choose a good name by behaving in ways that enhance your reputation as a representative of YHVH, and thereby honoring HIS name too.
  • Tyrants, the People, and God in Proverbs 14:28 – Even the worst tyrants have to provide for a majority of their people or they will be deposed. The Technomafia wants to sidestep this principle by imposing total control of thought and speech over all people on earth, turning every human being into a slave with no will or liberties that the Technomafiosos don’t allow. How can we fight this? First by trusting in God. Second by openly proclaiming Truth no matter what.
  • Proverbs 26:13-16 and the Causes and Solutions to Laziness – The causes of laziness have solutions or at least tools to help manage them. The solution to most laziness is to identify and address the root causes and then adjust your expectations of the world through experience and faith in your Creator’s plan.
  • Matthew 9:32-33 and the Demon-Possessed Mute – Is all sickness caused by demons or just some? What about mental illness and neurological disorders? Some people teach that all (or most) sickness is caused by your sin or by demons, but the Bible doesn’t support that idea. Although sin and demons do cause some illness, most is just a malfunction of hardware or software or both. Fortunately, scripture also has some advice about minimizing illness in your life, no matter what the cause might be.
  • Jesus Will Open Your Eyes if You Let Him – Matthew 20:29-34 – When the crowd on the road from Jericho tried to quiet the two blind men who begged Yeshua to open their eyes, they demonstrated that they were even more blind themselves. Yeshua will open your eyes if you let him, but he will also let you hold onto your blindness despite your pleas if you refuse to see what he shows you.
  • Is Hosea 11:1 about Jesus or Israel? – In Matthew 2:15, Matthew quotes Hosea 11:1, “out of Egypt I called my son.” The original text was a prophecy about the people of Israel, but he attributes it to Jesus, aka Yeshua. Once you understand the nature of Biblical prophecy, you can see why Matthew’s application of Hosea was legitimate and perfectly aligned with how prophecy works throughout the Old Testament.
  • The Revelation of the Wicked in Matthew 23:13-39 – God allows the righteous to be persecuted for to refine them and to reveal the hearts of the wicked. Don’t be afraid of persecution. Don’t seek it out, but welcome it when it comes, because it means that God is refining you and preparing to judge the wicked.
  • A Chiasm on Sons and Slaves in Romans 8:12-17 – Paul uses the word spirit (pneuma) six times in this short passage, and he uses it in multiple ways. They don’t all refer to God’s Spirit, not even when most translations capitalize the word. There’s a chiasm in these verses that might help you see the idea that Paul was trying to explain.
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Parsha Va’eira – Apostolic Readings, Links, and Videos

New Testament passages to study with Torah portion Va'eira (Exodus 6-9), plus commentary and videos.

Readings

  • Exodus 6:2-7:18
    • Matthew 10:16-20
    • Luke 1:67-80
    • Acts 8:4-25
    • Romans 2:26-29
  • Exodus 7:19-8:19 (English) / 8:15 (Hebrew)
    • Matthew 10:5-15
    • John 2:1-13
    • Revelation 8:8-9
    • Revelation 16:3-7
    • Revelation 16:12-16
  • Exodus 8:20-9:35 (English) / 8:16-9:35 (Hebrew)
    • Romans 9:17-24
    • 1 Timothy 2:1-4
    • Revelation 8:7
    • Revelation 16:2
    • Revelation 16:8-9
    • Revelation 16:17-21

Additional Reading

Videos Related to Parsha Va’eira

  • The Wisdom and Kindness of Serpents (Matthew 10:16-20) – What does it mean to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves? Well, one thing it definitely doesn’t mean it’s to be venomous and offensive. If you are living a life in the footsteps of Messiah Yeshua, the world will hate you. But the people of the world aren’t necessarily your enemies. They are under the sway of your enemy; their minds are held captive by someone who hates them as much as he hates you.
  • Signs Pointing to God, Matthew 16:1-12 – Yeshua didn’t do miracles to entertain anyone. Everything he did was intended to teach us about God and his plan of redemption. The world is full of signs pointing to God if you’re willing to see them. Some people just refuse to open their eyes.