There seems to be some variety in interpretation when it comes to the law. We live in a societies that have instituted many laws in the countries where we live. In a worldy sense we are citizens of that country, and therefore are obligated to abide and adhere to the law of that land. This can present a bit of a dilemma to the believer who rightly answers to the ultimate law of God as laid down in the scriptures. There might be those amongst this believing community who say to themselves that they are not answerable to certain worldly laws instituted and maintained by government control, if they conflict with their interpretation of the laws of Yahweh. But yet we see in the scriptures, both in the covenants given in the Tanakh (first five books of the Old Testament) and the new covenant that Yeshua cut with His own blood, evidence that both God’s law and the law of governmental authority should kept. Yeshuah stated in Mathew 5 that “I have come to fulfill the law and the prophets and not one jot or title shall pass away from the law” – this referring to the instructions as given by Yahweh to Moses, known as ‘The Law’, or Gods ‘Instruction’ i.e the Torah. We see further evidence from the apostle Paul in the New Testament where he is saying in Romans 13 that we should submit to those governing over us, for God has put those governmental bodies in place and under Gods authority they do exist. Peter also in His first letter speaks of being in submission to Godly authorities. So these truly present a juxtaposition in the mind and heart of the believer concerning, ‘the law’.
In some ways a blog is a very forgiving tool because it allows the individual to express beliefs, opinions, ideas without institutional certification – religious, governmental or otherwise – (this of course may change as we move towards the end of the age where freedom of speech is already under attack severely in certain jurisdictions). So in this blog, I hope to be thought-provoking rather than offering a ‘hard and fast’ solution to what is a very difficult subject to disseminate and form a belief upon. That being said I can categorically state that one thing I am certain of and that is the infallibility of the Holy scriptures both the Tanakh, Prophets and Writings and the New Testament, and therein I believe lies our hope to unravel such intricate thought processes and beliefs.
Upon my deliberations I have found there to be more than one law that exists in the world today, these being Gods Law, Governmental Law and Common Law (of the people). Lets take God’s law and at the head we see Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMaschiach, who is the head of the body, He being the fulfilment of the law, and as we study the old testament we see Jesus(Yeshua) prophesied and spoken about many times in the scriptures. First and foremost I believe the law as written in Torah should be adhered to, abided by, observed, and obeyed by all those who believe in Yeshua. For it is written – “love the Lord God with all your heart, strength and mind and love your neighbour as yourself”, Jesus said, speaking to the Roman centurion; in Exodus 20 where it is written that Moses went to meet with Yahweh on His sacred mountain, Mt Sinai, and Yahweh gave Moses the ten commandments – “you shall love the Lord God before anything else; you shall not worship any idols, or set up an graven images; you shall set part My Holy day the Sabbath; you shall honour your father and mother…’ and the other five commandments. These two scriptures i believe provide the starting place to understand law and truth. We know that God’s holy people the Israelites, following the announcement of these commandments did not go on to obey, did not adhere to the instructions of the Lord and we see after many centuries, arriving at the time of Yeshua that the spiritual establishment of that day – the Scribes, Sanhedrin and the Pharasees – that they had developed over the centuries certain additional laws through verbal communication and subsequent additional writings; therefore we see our Jewish brothers and sisters within Judaism, adhering to another set of rules and another written law, this I believe is where those Messianic believers who want to start to adhere to God’s laws and feasts such as Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, need to be mindful and discerning of man-made laws that have been established that go against Gods law. Religious law derived from human experience was manifested quite clearly by the death of Jesus who combatted and confronted the religious spirit of that day.
So what is truth and which law is truth? The Christian believer would point you to the New Testament as only being the truth, where Judaism would purport the Torah, Prophets and Writings to be so, where non-believing government would invest in their man-made laws and strategies. However may i submit to you that the whole truth is to be found in the whole law, both ‘Old Testament’ and ‘New Testament’, and to believe in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) for the forgiveness of sins, plus to obey the commandments of the Torah; this I believe is where the whole truth can be found which will truly set you free.
