Apologetics
Mission: Impossible
John: Hey, David, how’s it going?
David: Shalom, John. I’m well. How have you been?
John: The same as usual. Probably better than I deserve.
David: That’s good to hear. So, you said you had a question you wanted to ask.
John: Yeah. Here, have a seat, will you?
David: Thanks.
John: It’s just this, You’ve told me over and over again that we’re supposed to keep the Torah. You’ve argued it like a fiend, and I’ve run out of arguments. But, it just doesn’t make sense to me. I know that we can’t possibly keep the Torah entirely, so what is the point? In James chapter two it says that if you break one commandment you’ve broken them all. So what is the point in even trying?
David: Well, that kind of depends.
John: On what?
David: On what the Torah is for.
John: What do you mean?
David: Is it for salvation? Is it for blessing? Is it for proving that we can’t save ourselves? What do you think the Torah is for?
John: Well, I’ve always thought that it was there to prove that we sinned. Like it says in Romans 7:8-9, “But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” (KJV)
David: That is what most people think. But I don’t think that’s what the Torah was intended for. People say it is beyond our reach, but look at what it says in Deuteronomy 30:11, “For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off.” And then again in verse 14, “But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” (JPS) See? It says it isn’t too hard for us. So, if it’s just there to prove that we’re all doomed, it doesn’t do it’s job very well at all.
John: Point out one person, other than Jesus, who kept all the Law perfectly.
David: Well, It says in Luke 1:6, “And both of them were righteous before God and walked in all the commandments and in the righteousness of the LORD without blame.” (Younan)
John: Now, hold on, are you saying that you think they had never sinned? Because Paul says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (KJV)
David: No. That is not what I’m saying. Keeping Torah is not about never messing up. That is another thing that most people don’t understand. Torah is about doing what you’re supposed to when you have messed up. If I say someone kept Torah, that doesn’t mean that they never ever ate something unkosher by accident. That means that they offered their sacrifice when they did.
John: But Hebrews says “It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.”
David: But the Torah never claims that the blood of bulls and goats takes away sins. It does claim that they purify from sin. However, only the scapegoat, the live goat that was sent out into the wilderness, was ever supposed to actually take away sins.
But, if we may go back to what the purpose of Torah is. I want us to look at what Yeshua said the purpose of the Torah was. In John 14:15 He told us. “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (KJV) He said that if we love Him, we’ll keep His commandments. Why? Because the purpose of His commandments are to show us how to love him. It’s the same thing when John says, in I John 2:3, “And by this we shall be sensible that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” (Murdock)
John: So you’re saying that the Torah is just instructions about how to love God? I don’t understand.
David: Okay, let’s look at something else Yeshua said. In Matthew 22, a Pharisee asked Him what the greatest commandment was. Yeshua told him that it was “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might, and with all your mind.” Then He went on and told him that the second was “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Then, in verse 40, Yeshua said, “On these two commandments hang the Torah and the prophets.” (Younan) What does that mean? It means that all of the commandments are based on these two basic commandments. It means that every commandment is merely an explanation of how to “Love the LORD your God” or “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
John: That doesn’t really make sense. I mean, what about the Kosher laws? How do they fit under one of these?
David: Before I can love my neighbor as myself, I have to love myself. Part of that is taking care of myself. The Kosher laws were given to tell us how to take care of our bodies.
John: So why is it a sin to disobey the Torah?
David: Because it is the nature of Father to love. I John 4:8, “God is love,” right? So because He is love, and He is perfect, and the Torah is an explanation of how to love, breaking one commandment of Torah is going against the perfect nature of Father.
John: So I still have the question, if we can’t keep it perfectly, why do we even try? What is the purpose?
David: It goes back to this, love is the nature of Father, and the Torah explains love. So we keep the Torah in order to get to know Father. This is what I John 2 says, in verses 3-5, “And by this we shall be sensible that we know him, if we keep his commandments. For he that saith, I know him, and doth not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But he that keepeth his word, in him is the love of God truly completed: for by this we know that we are in him.” (Murdock)
So, in the end, we don’t keep it because we’re trying to be perfect, or in order to get a blessing, though I believe that a blessing comes with keeping Torah, we keep it because we love Father, and we want to get to know Him.
John: So, if it is possible to keep the Torah, as you’ve said, why is it that Paul says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God?
David: because it says, “As by means of one man, sin entered into the world, and, by means of sin, death; and so death passed upon all the sons of men, inasmuch as they all have sinned:” Romans 5:12 (Murdock) All have sinned through Adam.
John: Waite, I thought Eve sinned first.
David: No. Actually, Adam sinned first. Before He created Eve, Father told Adam Not to eat of the tree of the knowlegde of good and evil, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die. By the time Eve tells the serpent, it has become, do not eat of it, nor shall you touch it…I don’t believe that Eve made that up on her own. I believe Adam broke the commandment not to add to or take away from the instructions of Father. But, even if that isn’t true, it was Adam’s place to be the leader, the initiator. When he let Eve initiate, and talk to the serpent, and take of the fruit of the tree, he sinned before she ever did. It was only Adam’s sin that allowed Eve to sin.
John: So you’re saying that each individual hasn’t sinned? Are you saying that someone could be sinless?
David: No. I am saying that only someone who was not born of man could avoid sin. All have sinned, indeed, except Yeshua. But David said, in Psalm 26:1, “of David. Judge me, O LORD, for I have walked in mine integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.” (JPS)
John: But what about those of us who have broken it?
David: Like I said, the point of Torah is not salvation. We are helpless to save ourselves. The point of Torah is knowing and loving Father.
John: So it isn’t the standard for sin?
David: Yes, it is the standard for sin, because it describes love, the nature of Father, and anything that is outside of the nature of Father is a sin.
John: So how is it that Paul can actually say that all have sinned?
David: In the same way that Hebrews teaches that Levi tithed to Malchisedek, in Hebrews 7:9-10, “And through Abraham, as one may say, even Levi who receiveth tithes, was himself tithed. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when he met Melchisedec.” (Murdock)
John: But you yourself have said that you cannot be saved apart from the Torah.
David: That is true. Because it says in James 2:17, “So also faith alone, without works, is dead.” But, I still say that Torah is not about salvation, in spite of the fact that you cannot be saved without it. But, that is not what Torah is about. It is about having a relationship with Father. Yeshua said, “It will not be that just anyone who says to me ‘My lord, my lord.’ Will enter the kingdom of heaven, but whoever that does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” In Matthew 7:21 (Younan) We cannot be saved without having a relationship with Father.
John: I don’t understand, what is the difference?
David: Torah is just the means to knowing Father. Knowing Father provides salvation. The truth is that the Christians teach that if one kept Torah perfectly, one could get salvation by it. But this is not true. Torah is only a means to the end, not the end itself. Do you see the difference?
John: (Musing) I think I understand now. Thank you for explaining what you believe, David.
David: Any time. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
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You write a conversation well. However, I think the content is a bit misleading. Scripture tells us that the law was so the trespass might increase and in order that sin become exceedingly sinful. I think the holiest lawkeepers of this life have only the beginning of obedience God requires. The law demand absolute perfection 100% of the time.
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