Law vs. Grace The Great Controversy For the past 2000 years, since the days of Simon Magus, most of us have been taught that there is an Old Testament and it was all about Law which was usurped by the New Testament and it’s all about Love. That the Believer of the Old Testament were saved by works and today we superior New Testament Believers are saved by grace...That IT IS EITHER LAW OR GRACE. This doctrine teaches the idea that their “Jesus” or their interpretation of the bible pits one against the other. However, as we will see King Messiah YahShua taught that the two are actually one. Most criticism I get is: • You are too legalistic trying to put us back under the LAW. • You teach too little about GRACE. • Where’s the LOVE! • I don’t want to be Jewish, I’m a Gentile CHRISTIAN! The Church has pitted Moses & Messiah against each other with the Believer in the middle. There is a theological “Tug o’ War” between the concepts of Law & Grace; Rule & Love; Old Testament or Covenant& New Testament or Covenant; and Works & Liberty. Does Yahweh’s LOVE Blot out His LAW? Is it Rule? Or is it Love? Is that Even the Question? We often hear this argument in an effort to belittle Torah: “Well, since we are not under the law but under grace, we do not need to keep the LAW any longer.” Is this a valid point? The Scriptures certainly do say that we are not “under the law,” but does that imply that we are free from the obligation to obey the Torah? Theological Libertarians say, “God’s only law is love!” The Church’s position is that “we longer have to keep Yahweh’s commandment because now we’re walking in ‘unmerited favor…God is all about love not law!’” It’s either LAW or GRACE – they are mutually exclusive in the minds of Christians. There is a dividing line in Christianity that runs very deep. It is so deep that if you even get close to the crevasse you will get pushed over. That is how much of a “sacred cow” this LAW vs. GRACE teaching is. “But the path of the just is like the shining light, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. (Proverbs 4:18,19)” The actual Hebrew word translated as “just” is Tzaddik {tzad-deek} Lawful or righteous one. By lawful I mean one who follows the Torah, therefore, the light is only present in the Torah observant! This word has always meant those that are truly diligent in keeping Yahweh’s Holy Word. A Tzaddik is one that is pious and devoted to Yahweh’s holy instructions (Torah means “instructions & Teachings”). What does that obviously imply about those alleged bible-based organizations that teach that the Torah has been done away with? Proverbs 4:19 gives us insight into people that do not heed or promote Torah. They are stumbling in the darkness of going by feelings rather than the absoluteness of the Word. Many Christians believe that they have been given a new commandment – “If it seems right to you, go ahead and do it!” By promoting the blasphemous idea of the abolition of the Torah or that it is somehow optional, Constantinian Christians, Catholics, Libertarians, and so-called Messianic leaders are taking away the very teachings that fuel the Holy Light – even the very fuel of Messiah YahShua’s Light. “In the beginning was the Torah, and the Torah was with Elohim, and the Torah was Elohim. He was in the beginning with Elohim. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:1-5)” The Torah condemns those that heed these false Libertarian teacher’s doctrines to darkness that causes them to be ignorant of their constant stumbling at the Truth. When the light of the Torah is removed all that remains is gross darkness. “Behold, the days come, saith the Sovereign Yahweh, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Yahweh (Torah): and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Yahweh, and shall not find it. (Amos 8:11,12)” “Arise, shine; for your light has come! (Messiah) And the glory of Yahweh is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth (Lack of Torah), and deep darkness (spiritual shame) the people; but Yahweh will arise over you (True Israel), and His glory will be seen upon you (Covenant keeper). The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. (Isaiah 60:1-3)” Is Keeping the LAW Legalistic? The Christian Definition of Grace is: Unmerited favor: mercy; clemency; pardon. The Christian Definition of Legalism is: Strict, literal adherence to the law or to a particular code, as of religion or morality. It is like the new Believer that is pulled over for breaking the speed limit. The patrolman walks and inquires why the driver has broken the speed limit. The Believer say, “You don’t understand Mr. Officer I am not under the LAW, I got saved now I’m under GRACE.” The patrolman says, “Would you like to be under arrest?” If a person does not willingly want to live in the economy of Grace he will be “under the Law”. In other words the Law will arrest your actions and bring charges against you. At heart, most people are rebels. We do not like to b e told what to do. We celebrate rebellion. We view Law as restrictive. There are those that put two fingers up and with a faraway look in their eyes that betray past euphoria say, “God is love, man!” That might have played well at Woodstock but it if you mean by this He is anti-Law you are woefully mistaken. I do agree “Yahweh is love.” However, we need to know what does that mean? What’s our obligation to it? “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12) Love is the basis of the Law. “My command (law) is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:12-13) What does that actually mean? “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from Yahweh. Everyone who loves has been born of Yahweh and knows Yahweh. Whoever does not love does not know Yahweh, because Yahweh is love. This is how Yahweh showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved Yahweh, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since Yahweh so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen Yahweh; but if we love one another, Yahweh lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:7-12) Love = service. Torah is LEGAL (Within the Boundaries) not LEGALISTIC! “Remember the Law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.” (Malachi 4:4) “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” (John 5:46-47) “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.” (John 16:12) Our definition for legalism would be simply “The Effort of Keeping Torah or anything to earn salvation.” Our definition for obedience is: “The keeping of the commandments because of a love relationship with the commander. This is the opposite of “legalism.” Most importantly our definition of “Grace” is: The unmerited power given to a person to do Yahweh’s will. “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Messiah.” (Ephesians 4:7) “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) There are 3 dimensions of Grace: unmerited acceptance; empowerment for service and growth; and cleansing from sin. In a home you might hear a father telling and adolescent, “As long as you live in my house you will follow my rules!” That is as it should be. Our Heavenly Father is the King of the Universe and if we want to have a blessed and productive life we will abide by His rules – the Torah. In the Days of YahShua the Law of Yahweh was being obscured by all the rules and regulations the different denominations of Judaism were putting upon their disciples. Robert Frost speaks to the point in his poem, Mending Wall: Before I built a wall Id ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offense. Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the men of the Great Assembly. In the beginning of Pirkei Avos (1:1) it says that the men of the Great Assembly said three things. The third one is: And you shall make a fence for the Torah. The Rambam explains that this refers to the precautionary decrees that our sages instituted as a safeguard to protect us from transgressing the Torah laws. The Rambam quotes from the Talmud (Yevamos 21a) that this is hinted at in the Torah itself. In the portion that deals with immorality and intimate relationships, it says (Leviticus 18:30): And you shall guard My guard in order not to perform any of the abominable customs that were done before you and not contaminate yourselves. I would agree that we should : “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thess. 5:22) In an era of occupation the Sages wanted to protect the things inside the Torah. They made fences. These laws keep us from making a mistake and going against the laws of the Torah. But by the time of Messiah YahShua it had become ridiculous. “…YahShua said to the crowds and to his disciples: ‘The Rabbis of the Torah and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” (Matthew 23:1-4) “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires FAITH . For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the ‘works of the law.’ Or is Yahweh the Elohim of Jews only? Is he not the Elohim of the nations too? Yes, of nations also, since there is only one Elohim , who will justify the circumcised by FAITH and the uncircumcised through that same FAITH . Do we, then, nullify the Torah by this FAITH? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the Torah.” (Romans 3:27-31) Miqsat Maase Ha-Torah – Works of the Law In this obscure Dead Sea Scroll is the only other place that the expression “Miqsat Ma-ase ha-Torah” or works of the law is used. This phrase appears nowhere in Netzarim or rabbinic literature of the first and second centuries CE. -- only in Rabbi Sha’ul (Paul) and in 4QMMT. The issues discussed, were: The issues include bringing Gentile corn into the Temple, the presentation of Gentile offerings, and the cooking of sacrificial meat in unfit (impure) vessels. Other rulings concern cleansing of lepers, admitting the blind and the deaf into the Temple; and permitting intermarriage with Ammonite and Moabite converts, long forbidden to enter the congregation of Israel (Deuteronomy 23:3).Other issues involve the transmission of impurity by a flow of water (musaq), the intermixture of wool and linen (sha-atnez) and perhaps the climax of the discussion: the intermarriage of priests with the common people. Most of the rulings espoused by the author of MMT are based directly upon Biblical law (for example, the prohibition against plowing with unlike animals in Deuteronomy 22:10).A few others are interpretations or amplifications of Mosaic prescriptions (for example, bans on Gentile offerings and dogs in the Temple).The list clearly reflects a conservative reaction against a relaxation of Torah precepts (Paul, Works of the Law and MMT, by Martin Abegg p.53-54). Notice these works of the law included legalistic INTERPRETATIONS OR AMPLIFICATIONS OF MOSAIC PRESCRIPTIONS. “You stupid Galatians! Who has put you under a spell? Before your very eyes YahShua the Messiah was clearly portrayed as having been put to death as a criminal! I want to know from you just this one thing: did you receive the Spirit by legalism or by trusting in what you heard and being faithful to it? Are you that stupid? Having begun with the Spirits power, do you think you can reach the goal under your own power? Have you suffered so much for nothing? If thats the way you think, your suffering certainly will have been for nothing! What about Yahweh, who supplies you with the Spirit and works miracles among you - does he do it because of your legalistic observance of Torah commands or because you trust in what you heard and are faithful to it?” (Galatians 3:1-5) “For everyone who depends on legalistic observance of Torah commands lives under a curse, since it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the Scroll of the Torah.’ (Deuteronomy 27:26) Now it is evident that no one comes to be declared righteous by Yahweh through legalism, since ‘The person who is righteous will attain life by FAITH (trusting and being faithful).’ (Habakkuk 2:4) Furthermore, legalism is not based on FAITH (trusting and being faithful), but on [a misuse of] the text that says, ‘Anyone who does these things will attain life through them.’ (Leviticus 18:5) The Messiah redeemed us from the curse pronounced in the Torah by becoming cursed on our behalf; for the Tanach says, ‘Everyone who hangs from a tree comes under a curse.’ (Deuteronomy 21:23) YahShua the Messiah did this so that in union with him the nations might receive the blessing announced to Abraham, so that through FAITH (trusting and being faithful), we might receive what was promised, namely, the Spirit.” (Galatians 3:10-14) “…we have come to realize that a person is not declared righteous by Yahweh on the ground of his legalistic observance of Torah commands, but through the Messiah YahShuas FAITH (trusting faithfulness.) Therefore, we too have put our trust in Messiah YahShua and become FAITHful to him, in order that we might be declared righteous on the ground of the Messiahs FAITH (trusting faithfulness) and not on the ground of our legalistic observance of Torah commands. For on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, no one will be declared righteous. But if, in seeking to be declared righteous by Yahweh through our union with the Messiah, we ourselves are indeed found to be sinners, then is the Messiah an aider and abettor of sin? Heaven forbid! Indeed, if I build up again the legalistic bondage which I destroyed, I really do make myself a transgressor. For it was through letting the Torah speak for itself that I died to its traditional legalistic misinterpretation, so that I might live in direct relationship with Yahweh. When the Messiah was executed on the tree as a criminal, I was too; so that my proud ego no longer lives. But the Messiah lives in me, and the life I now live in my body I live by the same FAITH (trusting faithfulness) that the Son of Yahweh had, who loved me and gave himself up for me. I do not reject Yahwehs gracious gift; for if the way in which one attains righteousness is through legalism, then the Messiahs death was pointless.” (Galatians 2:16-21) Fighting Legalism not Torah! “For by GRACE are you saved through FAITH; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of Yahweh.” (Ephesians 2:8) “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and GRACE.” (2 Timothy 1:9) Was Rabbi Sha’ul (Paul) Anti-Torah “Bear in mind that our Adonai’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Sha’ul also wrote you with the wisdom that Yahweh gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:15, 16) Tertullian opposes this kind of maneuver. Referring to Romans 7:7, to combat the hatred of the Law: “What shall we say then? That the law is sin? Yahweh fordid.” Shame on you... Yahweh forbid: the apostle expresses abhorrence of complaint against the law…Yet he adds even more: “The Law is holy, and its commandment is just, and good.” He ends by saying “you cannot make a promoter of the law into an opponent of it.” (“Against Marcion”) Last Judgment – by What are Mankind Judged? Yet for all their Libertarianism, the Church also teaches that “God” is going to weigh out your good works and judge your eternal destiny by this weighing. That’s not Torah that’s paganism! “I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it…I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.” (Revelation 20:11-13) “Anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15) It’s about relationship! “Hear, O Israel: Yahweh is Elohim, Yahweh is One. Love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-6) Is Yahweh Legalistic? “Keep my commands and follow them. I am Yahweh.” (Leviticus 22:31) “Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.” (Proverbs 7:2) “My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart.” (Proverbs 3:1) Does Torah Teach Salvation thru Law? Everything in the Scriptures is based on what you believe concerning Law & Grace. Get that wrong and your whole Belief System crumbles into error. “Yahweh is my strength and my defense; He has become my salvation. He is my Elohim, and I will praise Him, my father’s Elohim, and I will exalt Him.” (Exodus 15:2) “I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.” (Psalms 13:5) “Keep my soul, and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You.” (Psalms 25:20) “Surely Elohim is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. Yahweh, Yahweh himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.” (Isaiah 12:2) Was YahShua Legalistic? “[YahShua] said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, Yahweh. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.’” (Matthew 19:17) “If you love Me, keep My commandments…Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. ” (John 14:15, 23, 24) “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (John 15:10) “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.” (1 John 2:3) “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before Yahweh and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases Him.” (1 John 3:21, 22) “This is how we know that we love the children of Yahweh: by loving Yahweh and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for Yahweh : to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of Yahweh overcomes the world. ” (1 John 5:2-4) Should the Believer Keep Torah? “To the Torah and to the Testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isaiah 8:20) “[Yahweh] sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant …who bare record of the Word of Yahweh, and of the testimony of Messiah YahShua, and of all things that he saw.” (Revelation 1:1,2) “I saw under the altar the spirits of them that were slain for the Word of Yahweh, and for the Testimony which they held.” (Revelation 6:9) “…they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of their Testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death…And the dragon (Devil) was wroth with the woman (Israel), and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of Yahweh, and have the Testimony of Messiah YahShua.” (Revelation 12:11, 17) “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling!” (Philippians 2:12) If deciding to keep the commandments of Yahweh is legalistic, as some might say, then ANYONE who encourages someone to keep the Torah is by default LEGALISTIC. YahShua said: “Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Naviim (Prophets). I did not come to destroy but to fulfill (render the full meaning). For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one yod (smallest letter in the AlephBet) or one taug (accent marks above the letters) will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Rabbis of the Torah and Parushim (Pharisees – separated ones), you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-20) As we seek the True Light of Torah, Rebbe YahShua provides the means by which our fleshly weakness can be overcome and our transgressions of Torah be forgiven as we continue our walk of sanctification continually seeking the greater illumination of the Secrets of Torah in our lives. “For they being ignorant of Yahwehs righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of Yahweh. For Messiah is the goal of the Torah for righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the Torah, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them. (Romans 10:3-5)” It is through Messiah that we are able to strive to live by the instructions & teachings – Torah - of our Creator – Yahweh. Centuries of Christian Anti-Semitism, Anti-Hebraic, and Anti-Torah replacement theology has resulted in a religion that promotes darkness and rebellion against Yahweh by ignoring, replacing, or discarding His instructions to mankind. The Christian belief that the Torah has been abolished would have been viewed as ridiculous and wicked by King Messiah YahShua and his Talmidim (Disciples). This kind of theology is in direct opposition to the teachings of the man who Christians claim is their Christ. The rejection of the Law by Christianity, therefore, was a departure from its Christ. (Jewish Encyclopaedia, ed. Isidore Singer New York and London: Funk and Wagnalls, 1903), Vol.V.,p.52) In order to perpetuate the lie of the death of the Torah, Christian leaders had to reach back into the musty corridors of time and find a theological way of eliminating the bulk of Rebbe YahShua’s own teachings. They found this by a slight-of-hand interpretation of the writings of Rabbi Sha’ul, in a way that is un-Hebraic and which Rabbi Sha’ul, that they call Paul (midget), would vehemently oppose. The man that originated this school of thought was Marcion the heretic. Marcion’s Anti-Semitic; pro-Paul churches spread throughout the Roman Empire and soon became a major threat to the Messianic faith. Marcion was born in 85 CE at Sinope on the Black Sea and was raised to be very Anti-Semitic. Marcion taught that the entire Hebrew Bible should be rejected because it belonged to an evil, inferior deity (Yahweh), and not to “the God revealed by Jesus of Nazareth.” He also rejected any of the Messianic writings, which appeared to speak favourably of Jewish practices (like keeping Torah). Marcion taught the law was something obsolete and of little use to a Christian. The Torah that he began to call the Old Testament and its commandments is opposed to his New Testament founded on grace. Following this school of thought you end up with either a schizophrenic deity, or Marcion’s two gods. In “Against Marcion,” Tertullian accuses Marcion and his followers of forbidding what (Yahweh) commands and commanding what He forbids. (IV.1) Following Marcion, Mainstream Christianity often commands what Yahweh forbids: Forget the Sabbath. Ignore the holy days and dietary laws. And shave that beard, so you will look like a Christian! Marcion sets up unequal gods. Tertullian writes, The one a judge, fierce and warlike (Yahweh), the other mild and peaceable (God), solely kind and supremely good. (Tertullian, Against Marcion I.6.) A spirit of lawlessness has been hanging over the Church for all of its history. Tertullian shows the importance Rebbe YahShua attached to keeping Torah when he writes about the rich young ruler who approached Rebbe YahShua: So when he is asked by that certain man, Good Rabbi, what shall I do to obtain possession of eternal life?” he inquired whether he knew –which means, was keeping, the Creator’s Commandments---.Come now, Marcion, and all you companions in the misery and sharers in the offensiveness of that heretic, what will you be bold enough to say? Did Messiah here rescind those former commands---? (Against Marcion IV.36)” Who are we supposed to be following? Marcion’s perversion of what Rabbi Sha’ul said or Messiah YahShua’s teachings based on what Yahweh says. “Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Sovereign is salvation--as also our beloved brother Rabbi Sha’ul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our King and Savior Messiah YahShua. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amien. (2 Peter 3:14-18)” The Example of Adam & Eve Adam & Eve’s Mission & Destiny: “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” (Genesis:1:28) “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children.” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7) “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds.” (Genesis 1:24) The had only one prohibition: “And Yahweh Almighty commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.’” (Genesis 2:16-17) Yahweh gave Mankind EVERYTHING but the Tree of Knowledge “…out of the ground made Yahweh Almighty to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the Tree of Life also in the midst of the garden, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” (Genesis 2:9) They majored on minors. The only fence around the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was TRUST. Yahweh said, TRUST me and live. Doubt and die. I Can Do EVERYTHING except these few prohibitions in the Torah! Who are we to question Torah? We do not need to know why we cannot do something only trust that Yahweh has our best interest in mind. “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” (Psalms 8:4) “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’? Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken. Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.” (Job 38:2-18) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21-23) “‘My food,’ said YahShua, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.’” (John 4:34) ONE LAW (TORAH) “‘Everyone who is native-born must do these things…The community is to have the same LAW for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before Yahweh: The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you.’” (Numbers 15:13-16) “Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (which is done in the body by human hands)—remember that at that time you were separate from Messiah, excluded from citizenship in the Commonwealth of Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without Yahweh in the world. BUT NOW in Messiah YahShua you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Messiah.” (Ephesians 2:11-13) “…the goal of the Torah is the Messiah, who offers righteousness to everyone who trusts and believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness grounded in the Torah that the person who does these things will attain life through them. Moreover, the righteousness grounded in Faith says: ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend to heaven?”’ that is, to bring the Messiah down - or, ‘”Who will descend into depths?”’ that is, to bring the Messiah up from the dead. What, then, does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” that is, the word about trust which we proclaim, namely, that if pledge allegiance with your mouth that YahShua is King and trust in your heart that Yahweh raised him from the dead, you will be delivered. For with the heart one goes on trusting and thus continues toward righteousness, while with the mouth one keeps on making public pledge and thus continues toward deliverance. For the passage quoted says that everyone who rests his trust on him will not be humiliated. That means that there is no difference between Jew and the nations - ADONAI is sovereign over everyone, rich toward everyone who calls on him, since everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh will be delivered. But how can they call on someone if they havent trusted in him? And how can they trust in someone if they havent heard about him? And how can they hear about someone if no one is proclaiming him? And how can people proclaim him unless Yahweh sends them? - as the Tanakh puts it, How beautiful are the feet of those announcing good news about good things!’” (Romans 10:4-15)
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 02:41:37 +0000
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