From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 1997 11:47 PM
To: Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup
Subject: Book: The Spirit of the Law: Lesson Two
From: "HaY'Did" <shalom@haydid.org>
Organization: HaY'Did Learning Center
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: The Spirit of the Law: Lesson Two
Dear Mishpahah (family):
This is the second lesson on The Spirit of the Law that is taken from
Dr. Ron Moseley's book by the same title. Dr. Ron heads the Arkansas
Instiute of Holy Land Studies in North Little Rock, Arkansas which is a
specialty college that teaches the Jewish roots of our faith. It is a
correspondence college and you are invited to visit the website with
information at http://www.haydid.org/ark.htm or call 1-800-617-6205 for
further information. Dr. Ron also takes tours to Israel and invites you
to join him on one. He also has a book: Yeshua: A Guide to the Real
Jesus and the First Century Church available.
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LESSON #2
THE NINE-FOLD PURPOSE OF THE LAW
Even in the New Testament and apart from being the guideline of God's
covenant people Israel, the Law has at least a nine-fold purpose to all
people. This is not to say that all the Law applies to all people, for
much of it was a direct covenant to Israel alone. Note the detail of
some of the universal aspects of God's Law:
First - To teach the believer how to serve, worship and please God
[Psalm 19:7-9; Acts 18:13,14].
Second - To instruct the believer how to treat his fellow man and have
healthy relationships with him [Leviticus 19:18; Galatians 5:14;
Galatians 6:2].
Third - To teach believers how to be happy and prosper here on earth by
manifesting the power and authority of God's reign in their lives
[Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:1-3; Luke 12:32].
Fourth - The Law was given, not to save, but too measure man's deeds
both toward God and his fellow man, straightening out all
matters contrary to sound doctrine [I Timothy 1:8-10;
II Timothy 2:5; 1 Corinthians 6:1-12; I Corinthians 3:13;
Romans 2:12; Revelation 20:12, 13].
Fifth - The Law is a schoolmaster showing that we are guilty and then
leading us to Christ our Messianic justification [Galatians 3:21-24;
Romans 3:19].
Sixth - The Law gives us both the knowledge and depth of our sin
[Romans 3:20; Romans 4:15; Romans 7:7, 8;
Luke 20:47 - greater damnation].
Seventh -The Law reveals the good, holy, just, and Perfect nature of
God and serves as the visible standard for God's will [Romans 2:17,
and please God [Psalm 19:7-9; Acts 18:13, 18; Romans 7:12;
II Peter 1:4].
Eighth - The Law is to be established or accomplished by our
faith, therefore, it is called the Law of faith
[Romans 3:27; Romans 3:31].
Ninth - The same Law today is written on our hearts, and through
God's Spirit we can delight and serve the Law of God [Romans
7:6-25].
THE CURSE OF THE LAW
The misunderstood phrase The Curse of the Law as well as similar terms
such as the bondage of the Law, works of the Law, and under the Law
could better be understood as the curse of the Word of God that comes to
those who violate God's Law. There is no curse of the Law on anyone,
except as Paul said, those who misuse it [I Timothy 1:81. Remember, the
phrases under the Law and works of the Law were only used by Paul when
addressing Gentile congregations who had been mistakenly taught that
they had to keep the Law of the Jewish covenant to be saved. It would
be the worst of mistakes to assume in Christian theology that Paul
taught that God's Law was bad, especially since he clearly taught that
the Law properly understood was "holy, just, and good" [Romans 7:121.
C.Cranfield in his book St. Paul and the Law pointed out that the
Greek language of Paul's day had no word group corresponding to our
modern words legalism, legalist, and legalistic. In view of this he
concluded, "We should always, be ready to reckon with the possibility
that Pauline statements, which at first might seem to disparage the Law,
were really directed not against the Law itself but against that
misunderstanding and misuse of it...... As one examines the scholarship
on this subject, it would be wise for us to not assume that such terms
as under the Law and bondage refer to one's obedience to the good and
godly precepts of God's Law. But, hopefully, we will realize Paul's
statements referred to those who were in subjection to the system that
perverted the Law into legalism. David Stem in his book Restoring The
Jewishness of The Gospel points out that the curse of the Law is not the
curse of having to live within the framework of the Law, for the Law
itself is good, but rather it is the curse pronounced in the Torah for
disobeying it [Galatians 3: 10; 3:13]. The Apostle Paul points out that
the curse falls on the individuals who try to obey the Law through
efforts of legalism [Galatians 3: 1 la, 12]. This idea becomes clear
when one realizes that legalism is already disobedience since the Law
itself requires genuine obedience to come as an act of faith
[1.Habakkuk 2:4].
THE CURSE OF THE LAW
Since the second century, modern Christianity has distinguished itself
from Judaism by using the term New Covenant leaving the assumption that
the Old Covenant was the Old Testament. With this idea developed the
misconception that Christians were not to read the Old Testament. Paul
in combating a different problem in his day, that of trying to keep
Gentile converts from being taught they had to keep the Jewish covenant
for salvation, used this already familiar term New Covenant to enable
his Gentile congregants to distinguish it from earlier expressions of
the covenant. The term New Covenant had its ongin some 600 years before
Paul with Jeremiah as he declared that God would make a New Covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah that would not be
broken and abandoned as the one at Sinai. This New Covenant would be
written on the heart [Jeremiah 31: 30, 31].
Before Paul, one of the Jewish groups to use the term New Covenant to
distinguish their remnant from basic Judaism, was the sect at Qumran.
Scholars roughly date the writings of Qumran, the Dead Sea Scrolls, from
200 B.C. to the mid first century A.D. This Jewish sect taught that they
alone were the True Israel and that the New Covenant spoke of them
[Damascus Document VI,19; VIII, 21; YX,2; I,1-11; II,14-III,21;
V,20-VI,3].. Later, Paul used the term New Covenant to describe his
Gentile converts, adding that they too were the Israel of
God [Galatians 6:16]. Even later, the Protestants separated themselves
from the bondage of the Catholic Church in the days of the Reformation
by using the same terms. Unfortunately, church history reveals that
various religious groups have used such terms as Ne w Covenant, Law,
bondage, and Old Covenant as a whipping stick for whatever threatened
their doctrines.
IS THERE A DIFFERENT COVENANT
FOR JEWS AS OPPOSED TO GENTILES?
...sure, there always has been! Originally, God made a covenant with
Israel and said the keeping of these laws and traditions will separate
you from other nations as a testimony that you were My first people
[Ezekiel 20:12;20;34-38].. It is quite clear in the biblical text that
Israel had a special covenant with the Lord as His Chosen People because
they kept His commandments, while other nations followed many deities
[Exodus 19:4-6; Deuteronomy 26: 18, 19; Jeremiah 7:22, 23; Amos 3:2;
Hosea 13:4]. There are two aspects of God's election of Israel as the
Chosen People in ancient Judaism. The first is that God had chosen them
because He loved them and did so in keeping His covenant with them
[Deuteronomy 7:7-8]. The second aspect is that God has given all nations
the same possibility of becoming the people of God, but only Israel was
willing to accept His Law while the other nations rejected this
opportunity. Although this is a rabbinic idea that has later been
developed in talmudic, philosophic, mystical, and contemporary Judaism,
the Encyclopedia Judaica points out that this idea has been a central
one throughout the history of Jewish thought and deeply rooted in
biblical concepts. This aspect is derived from such texts as Amos 3:2,
Genesis 18:19, II Chronicles 16:9, and Psalm 105:45 that point to the
special relationship between God and His people through the keeping of
His statutes.
The covenant with the Jews was for them to keep the Law of Moses as a
lifestyle of the godly to set them apart from the other nations. The
covenant with the believers among the other nations was referred to as
the Noachian, or Noachide Laws. The Noachian Laws were taken from the
moral and spiritual principles derived basically from Genesis 9:47 and
from among other texts that gave instructions to avoid pagan practices
and serve the true God. From ancient times, records have mentioned
Gentiles who became believers in the one true God and His Messiah, and
were not required to keep the 613 legal traditions of the Jews, but only
the Noachide laws. Examples of these Gentile converts who became
Noachides include such names as Helena, Queen of Adiabene, and her son
Izates. There is evidence that the powerful wife of Nero, Poppaea
Sabina, was a God-Fearer who lived by the Noachide laws. Other
references are mentioned by Josephus, the Maccabees of the Apocrypha,
and several New Testament texts such as Acts 13:16 and Acts 10:22.
David Flusser, in his book Judaism and the Origins of Christianity,
asserts that these God-Fearers accepted certain Jewish obligations, at
least the so-called Noachide precepts. Flusser further emphasizes that
the Noachide precepts were only seen as a minimal condition for Gentiles
to be recognized as God-Fearers; and that while the mother church
decided to lay no burden upon the Gentile believers beyond the Noachide
precepts, it did not object to their voluntarily observing more. It
should be noted that when we say all that was required of these ancient
believers was to keep the Noachian commandments, it is with the
understanding that they have also repented of their sins and endorsed
the concept of the Lord as their God knowing that somehow, someday, He
would provide a redeemer of which they.also trusted as Messiah. Flusser
also points out, in his book, Jewish Sources In Early Christianity,
that ancient messianic beliefs of the Jews are reflected in the New
Testament. He references various shades of Jewish messianic belief
including the image of the Bar Enash, who is the more than human judge,
who is to sit on the throne of God and separate the righteous from the
wicked, to deliver the righteous to everlasting life and the wicked to
everlastin punishment. Ancient references to the eternal Messiah are
evidenced in Luke 20:42; Daniel 7; Psalm 110; the fifteenth benediction
of the Jewish prayer, the Shemone Esre; the ancient prayer in
Judith 9: 11; and, the Midrash to Psalm 43: 1 (to name a few).
According to Aaron Lichtenstein in his book, The Seven Laws of Noah,
even the ancient Jews realized that the godly believers among the
Gentiles who kept these Noachian commandments, instead of
the 613 commands of Moses, had a part in the life to come.
Lichtenstein quotes such texts as Isaiah 54:8, 9, referring to
the Lord their redeemer showing pity or mercy as He did in the
time when He established the rainbow covenant with Noah. These
laws of Noah were basically the same as the spiritual principles
listed in the New Testament for Gentile converts requiring them to
love their neighbor, avoid sexual sins, pagan rites, idolatry, and to
worship the one true God. This was the ruling of the early church
leaders in Acts 15:28, 29 when they listed the Noachide Laws as the
necessary things that were required of the Gentile converts. The
earliest church was one body made up of believing Jews and believing
Gentiles. They were united in the Messiah who broke down the wall
of partition between them [Ephesians 2:14].. The Acts 15 decision was
regarding Gentile converts who had embraced the one true God and
His Messiah, and these necessary things were the only part of
the 613 Jewish laws and traditions required of Gentile converts.
Originally there were three Noachide Laws that were
commonly summarized into a list of seven, and then often a shorter
record of four categories as we see in Acts 15. In studying these we
actually find some 66-67 biblical imperatives as off-shoots of these
main categories that pertain to the Noachide system. These Gentiles
were called by various names including; "Righteous Gentiles,"
"Proselytes of the Gate," and "God Fearers." Jewish law divides all
non-Jews into three categories: (1) the Akkum, one who does not observe
the Noachide laws; (2) the Ben Noah, one who does observe the Noachide
laws; and (3) the Ger Toshab, one who, before Jewish courts, declares
his intention of adhering to the Noachide laws, and is then permitted to
reside in Palestine. While the Jews always kept the basic 613 Laws for
obedience and identification as the "Chosen of God," the believing
Gentiles had a different system of the same morals in the Noachide
Laws. David Stern in his Jewish New Testament Translation says the New
Testament is not actually a New Covenant, but the Law of God given
through Jesus the Messiah to the Gentiles, like the original Law was
given through Moses to the Jews, and that this is the actual meaning of
Hebrews 8:6 concerning the term, better covenant.
THE LAW
Roy Blizzard concerning the origination of the word Law says, "The
English word law is used to translate the Hebrew word Torah. Torah is
the feminine noun from the root yarah. The root yarah means to throw,
or to shoot, or to cast, as in the casting of lots, or the shooting of
arrows. It means to point out, to show. It means to direct, to teach,
to instruct. A moreh, in Hebrew, is a teacher, or one who throws out,
or points out; one who directs or instructs. Torah is direction, or
instruction. It sets forth the way man is to live. It instructs man as
to how he is to live in an ethical and moral way among his fellow man
and before God."
Christians today who suggest that the Law of God has been updated or
abolished as though it were some Athenian or Roman decree have a
misconception of the true definition of the Law. The Dictionary of
Christian Tradition published by Regency and Zondervan define the Law
as, "the will of God expressed in commandments of a positive and
negative kind." This sourcebook goes on to say that the people of God
"obey Him [and thus the Law] not to earn salvation but out of gratitude
and love for Him." This idea of obeying the will of God by our
obedience to the principles already laid down in the Law is evidenced
in Paul's teaching to the Romans in chapter 12. The Hebrew word
halakhah, or law comes from the root word for walk and stresses the
idea of teaching believers how to walk with and before the Lord. With
Paul's continued use of the concept of the believer's walk, it is
unthinkable that Christians have been taught that the only manual Paul
had for describing this walk had been abolished.
Blizzard further states, "The idea of law in Hebrew is not
something that if transgressed, is going to get you zapped. Torah is
instruction that, if followed, will enrich one's life; if ignored, will
diminish it." In the biblical text Law is frequently viewed as that
which God commanded. The Hebrew word translated as commandment is
mitzvah, from the root tzavah, and actually means to lay charge upon, or
to give charge to. A mitzvah is a charge, or a commandment. According
to Blizzard, commandments, when performed, designate the individual as
moral and ethical, and benefit all involved as well as please God.
DIFFERENT KINDS OF LAW
When one considers the subject of Law, there must be a differentiation
between the various kinds of Law. The moral or ethical laws that are
necessary for man to live in harmony are known as Mishpatim and are
literally translated judgments. The rituals and festivals which
reawaken us to important religious truths such as Sabbath, holydays, the
Tefillin placed on the head and hands, and the Mezuzah placed on the
doorposts, that remind us of God's presence are known as Edos and are
literally translated witnesses. The third group are known as Chukim and
are literally translated as decrees. Sometimes these are referred to as
the moral, civil, and judicial laws. According to modern scholarship,
the English word law is a poor translation of the Greek word nomos, used
by Paul in his epistles. The meaning and scope of nomos is far greater
than our English concept of Law. Paul is Jewish and when he says Law,
he is thinking Torah that was the way of life for the believer.
Blizzard concludes that the Torah is a magnificent demonstration of
God's grace and "the problem with Law is not that it is not good, or
spiritual, or holy. The problem is , we have problems keeping it.
The Law is not weak; the Law is not imperfect. We are weak. We are
imperfect. But, thanks be to God, we are declared to be righteous - in
a right relationship with God, based not upon what we do but upon what
He is. Jesus' purpose was to establish God's Torah among the Jews.
Paul's purpose was to extend forth God's Torah to embrace the non-Jews.
For both, Jesus and Paul, Torah was grace."
END OF LESSON TWO
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