Hebraic Musing – What is the role of the Torah?
We’ve been musing about whether God
expects us to follow His Laws; and we contemplated the problem of trying to interpret
His Laws so we can only follow the ‘Spirit of the Law”. Let’s look more carefully at the role of the Torah which is the Hebrew word directly
translated as “Law” in our English versions.
Here is a Messianic Jew’s
explanation of the Torah * – The Hebrew
root of the word Torah is the verb yarah, meaning to throw, cast or shoot. The
noun of the same root is moreh
meaning teacher. A teacher throws out the instructions and the
pupil is expected to receive. The letter
hei at the end of Torah implies God Breathed. Thus, the
understanding of Torah in scripture
carries no taint of legalism. Admittedly, what man has done to Torah has all too often become
legalistic.
In Greek translations, Torah was translated as Nomos.
Its definition goes beyond codified statutes and includes "a
procedure or practice that has taken hold...a custom, rule, principle or norm.” So the English translation of the ‘Word
breathed of God for our guidance’ has unfortunately been translated to the
word ‘Law’ which overtly conveys ‘legalism’. Which is the better understanding?
Torah represents a Covenant from God, a Mosaic
Constitution, with four distinctly unique elements:
1. The
Moral element consists of the
“Ten Words” too often referred to as Ten Commandments. The ten Words (Devarim in Hebrew) represent the spoken
words of a loving Father God as the ultimate moral standard for His
children. Those Words inform man of his
‘sins’, as-well-as providing man with guidance for a godly moral lifestyle.
2. The
Sacrificial element describes
five basic offerings (a topic of its own!). The Sin and Trespass/Guilt
offerings were/are required of everyone when they come to worship in the
sanctuary or temple. As Christians we can relate to the salvific need for these
two offerings. The other offerings are optional – 1. Burnt/Life; 2. Meal/Grain;
3. Peace/Fellowship – optional, but certainly worthy of participation.
3. A
Juridicial element deals with
the necessary civil and criminal governance issues required of the Nation of
Israel that God created. Deut. 16:18-19 Appoint
judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is
giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. NIV
4. Worship and Lifestyle Models appear
throughout the Torah in the form of
Feast days (Moedim), Sabbath customs, dietary rules, cleanliness, care for the
poor, etc. Some of our best bible
stories come from the lives of real characters serving as behavioral models. Abba wants the best for His children!
All and each of these elements
are necessary to complete the Mosaic Constitution. Could this be what James had in mind when he
said For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is
guilty of breaking all of it. James 2:10 NIV
How does this perspective/understanding
of the purpose of Torah relate to
Christians? From our Salvific Christian
perspective we who have accepted the atoning sacrifice of Yeshua HaMashiach
have become a new creation as evidenced by your answer to the Point to Ponder from the January 21st
musing: “Do we follow the law (Torah) because we have to, or because we
want to?” I/we used to try to follow the
“Ten Words” because I/we had to; now as Christians I/we obey Father God’s Word
because we want to. Each of the “Thou shall
not…”’s in His Ten Words have become “I shall not want to…” in my new life in
Christ. And we reference WWJD as our
guideline. What did Jesus do? He
followed Torah.
Points to Ponder (again!)
Do we have salvific faith if we willfully ignore what our Triune God told us to do?
Is the adopted child expected to live according to the House rules?
Shalom
Yosef a.k.a. Joe Brusherd February
4, 2014
Author of
two books “Hebraic Insights” and “Biblical
Marriage”
* Inspired
and excerpted from God, Torah, Messiah –
The Messianic Jewish Theology of Dr. Louis Goldberg. Pp 10-17
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