• Calendar
  • 2nd-day of the 9th-Biblical Month–also known as Kislev. The renewed moon was sighted over the land of Israel by members of the New Moon Society—headed by Torah Scholar Nehemehia Gordon
  • Next festival is Hanukkah–slated for December 8th or at the end of the 9th biblical month
  • Hanukkah is the Festival of Re-dedication related to the story of the Maccabees
  • Not one of the 7-mandated Feasts of Yahovah
  • Hanukkah at Rood International—The Mountain of God–slated for December 11th–13th—just added an additional 30-seats
  • http://www.hanukkahconference.com/
  • Speakers include
    • Egyptologist and Chronologist Dr. David Rohl (Spain) and primary focus of the documentary Patterns of Evidence-Exodus—Tim Mahoney’s profound documentary on his personal crisis of Faith that led to him searching for the truth of about the Exodus
    • http://www.patternsofevidence.com/en/
    • Jim and Penny Caldwell—the discoverers of the Real Mount Sinai and featured in the Michael Rood documentary “The Real Mount Sinai
    • http://bookstore.aroodawakening.tv/
    • Drs. Mike and Jenny Wilkins—Integrative Medicine Experts
• Torah Living Daily Challenge
  • Week-day challenges derived from my personal torah studies and current news events that have some impact (directly or indirectly) on us and our Faith
  • Check it out
  • Daily dose of challenge/admonishment/encouragement/information
  • Good response/comments/feedback/testimonials
• Fellowshipping
  • We’ve begun a home fellowship in Orange County California
  • If you reside in the Orange County area and would like to learn more about our fellowship, please email me at perceptionwp@gmail.com
  • Looking to add Sabbath Fellowship opportunities through the web—only able to accommodate 25 people
• News You Can Use: The Paris Attacks of Friday, 13th of November, 2015

• Radical Islamic Terrorists stage at least 3-centralized, coordinated attacks in Paris resulting in the murders of 130-people
• This is the 2nd attack by ISIS, the first being the Russian Airliner brought down by an alleged bomb explosion
• This is all fear-mongering that we who are Torah Observant Believers in Y’shua must see through and not fall prey to
• Y’shua told us: 6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Mat 24:6-8 KJV)
• But the world’s power-brokers are working to bring fear to the world in order to control us and remove our freedoms.
• Y’shua taught us: “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)
• Additionally: “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in Yahovah, believe also in me.” (John 14:1)
• Bottom line: it’s prudent to stay informed about world events, but more so, to stay focused on our ultimate goal and that is seeking and working for the Kingdom of Yahovah. All of this noise that is going on in the world is designed in part to distract us from our purpose and our mandate regarding the Kingdom of Yahovah
• All of the flat earth controversies and other things are enticing and designed to capture our attention and distract us from our purpose. We must not be deterred. We must stay focused and be prepared to work the fields while it is still day. For these types of events are all signs of the impending night that is just before us.
• It’s all good—bring hasatan—you’re already defeated

No Longer Under the Law.

This will be part 8 of the Grace and the Law series that we begun a few months ago for purposes of getting us all on the same page as it relates to the subject of Grace and the Law. As we in Hebrew Roots very well know, churchianty despises our kind for many reasons, the main being that we hold to a firm belief that Torah is still valid for today’s believer in Y’shua Messiah. Churchianity outright rejects Torah for a number of reasons, sighting that Jesus Christ kept Torah perfectly so that we no longer have to. Thus, Torah has gone the way of animal sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem. Besides, according to the traditionalists, it is impossible to keep Torah and anyone who attempts to keep Torah is cursed to obey the whole of Torah and not slip up on any one commandment of Torah. Thus we in Hebrew Roots have fallen from grace and have nullified Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross in our lives.

We know all of churchianity’s contentions regarding our honoring of Torah are erroneous; for their understanding of Torah’s role in the believer’s life is based primarily upon a complete misunderstanding and misinterpretaton of many seeming anti-Torah passages in the New Testament and ignorance of what God’s grace is truly about. Thus, I believe it behooves us—the Torah Observant Believer in Y’shua Messiah–to be educated on the topic of Grace and the Law and be equipped to properly explain to any who would ask us why we believe what we believe and do what we do as it relates to our Faith. This is the reason for this multi-episode series on Grace and the Law. If you’ve not already done so, I would highly encourage you to pull up and listen to or read through the previous seven episodes of this series at your earliest convenience. Doing so will help establish a firm basis upon which you can build a comprehensive understanding of this fundamental aspect of our Faith. It is our aim when this series is completed, to compile the contents into a book and make it available to all who would desire to have the information as a reference on this crucial topic.

In this, part 8 of the series, addresses yet another seeming anti-Torah passage of Paul that is found in Galatians 3:23-26. This is an important passage that requires a solid understanding of grace, faith, Torah or the Law and righteousness/justification. And again, we spent the last seven episodes of this series discussing these crucial elements of our Faith and how they all fit into the grand scheme of things—our redemption, our relationship with Father and our eternal life. Armed with an understanding of these elements individually and in orchestra in our Faith and in our lives, we can easily tackle this passage of Paul’s that once again, seems to suggest to the traditionalist/fundamentalist that the Law was done away with and that the Law was and remains a bad thing that any who would belong to Jesus Christ must avoid at all costs.

So let’s take a look at this passage and see what Paul has to say about the believer and the Law. Again, we must remember that the Galatian assembly was composed of Messianic Jews (these have been referred to as Judaizers by certain scholars and commentators) and Gentile Messianics. Paul, in this and other letters to the various assemblies that he is credited with founding, was battling against the influences and privileges the Messianic Jews had over the assemblies. These Messianic Jews—or Judaizers—were “…lowering the Faith’s spirituality to an outward ceremonial system…” (Reference Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary on the Whole Bible) In other words, the Judaizers were insisting that the Gentile Messianics adhere to ceremonial and legalistic Judaism in order for them to be part of the assembly and the Faith. Unfortunately, it is a general lack of understanding of this vital truth that churchianity has failed to grasp and has confused and twisted Paul’s writings to say something that is entirely untrue and erroneous. It isn’t obedience to Torah that Paul was addressing to the Galatian assembly, but rather it was the problem of the Galatian assembling ignoring or rejecting the crucial element of having faith in Y’shua Messiah (that is having reliance upon Y’shua’s work and sacrifice for purposes of establishing their righteousness and being justified before Yahovah) and replacing that faith with legalism, regulations and traditions for purposes of making one’s self righteous and justified before Yahovah. We discussed in the previous episodes that such thinking and practice is terribly flawed and has negative eternal ramifications. For we found that the Believer is required to live by a trusting faith in Y’shua Messiah (reference Habakkuk 2:4). Paul stated quite succinctly that we are not justified by Torah, especially not justified by practicing Judaism as was being pushed by the Galatian Messianic Jews, but by faith (reference Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11). However, Paul nowhere in his writings said that righteous living was not the domain of the true Believer in Y’shua Messiah. Where does one learn how to live righteously? He learns solely from Torah—that is the Law. In fact, our Master has insisted that we keep Torah—Him being the living Torah: “If you love me, keep my commandments” (reference John 14:15); “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father…” (reference John 14:21); “Yeshua answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father ill love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him…” (reference John 14:23); “For this is the love of Yahovah, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous…” (reference 1 John 5:3); “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments…” (1 John 2:3); “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Y’shua Messiah…Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of Yahovah, and the faith of Y’shua…” (reference Revelation 12:17; 14:7). So there must be no misunderstanding here: we who are true believers in Y’shua Messiah are absolutely compelled to keep Torah. As Spirit-filled Believers of Y’shua Messiah, we are provided the wherewithal to keep Torah perfectly and live in the manner that Y’shua did—the basic definition of grace. But everything must start with a trusting faith in the work and sacrifice of Y’shua Messiah. It is that faith—the same type of faith that Abraham exhibited—that Father counts towards us as righteousness and it’s that inputted righteousness that opens the door to an eternal relationship with Father and forgiveness of sin and a life of abundance in Y’shua Messiah. It’s awesome. But in order to maintain a right standing with Father we must adhere to His rules—Father’s rules for proper living—Father’s house rules as I like to refer to them as; and that is of course Torah.

So let’s take at look at this passage in Galatians, 3:23-26, which reads as follows: “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Messiah came, in order that we might be justified by faith (that is faith in God through the keeping of Torah justified us before Father as we saw in Abraham’s example—for it was Abraham’s faith in Yahovah which translated into obedience to Yahovah’s call and direction).” Continuing on, picking up at verse 25: “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian (the KJV references “schoolmaster;” the NAS references “tutor;” the CJB references “custodian;” the YLT references “child-conductor;” and the NAB references “disciplinarian”); verse 26—for in Messiah Y’shua you are all sons of God, through faith.” Indeed, a lot to consider here.

So let’s break this down and see if we can discern what Paul is really saying here. Is Paul saying that we are no longer required to follow Torah but entirely under grace, thus giving us license to live as we wish? Or are is there something else here? Let’s see what’s really going on here.

Verse 23 has the potential if, read through western, sola gratia eyes (that is grace only), to lead one to take an immediate anti-Torah stance as popular translations read: before faith came, we were–kept under the law (KJV); or we were kept in custody or captive under the law (NAS and ESV). Certainly, as written in these translations, the sentiment seems to be that of existing under some form of bondage or slavery for all who lived as a Jew and Israeli prior to Y’shua Messiah’s advent and subsequent sacrifice. But it seems that there are other translations of this particular verse that provide or offer a much different perspective on Torah living prior to Y’shua’s advent. The Darby translation for instance reads: “But before faith came, we were guarded under the law…” Then there is the CJB which reads: “Now before the time for this trusting faithfulness came, we were imprisoned in subjection to the system which results from perverting the Torah into legalism…” And then there is the AENT which reads: “But before faith came, Torah was guarding us…”

So one can walk away from a reading of this verse—depending upon which translation you read–with the perception that prior to Y’shua coming to save us from our sins through His sacrifice on the execution stake at Calvary, we were under subjection to a cruel religious system that kept us in some form of bondage. Certainly, if we looked at this verse from the perspective of Judaism, bondage would be an apt description of the Law in comparison to faith in Y’shua Messiah. Or we can come away with the perception that Torah served a legitimate purpose in establishing Faith in Yahovah through the regulation of our life as children of the Most High; that Torah was a means of keeping us on track and somewhat close to Yahovah. Based upon what we already know about Grace, Torah/the Law, righteousness and justification, it would seem that the alternate translations that described Torah as being our guardian prior to Y’shua’s advent provide us with a perspective that is more in line with what Paul was actually trying to convey. If anything, we have to be cognizant of the translations that we are using when examining these seeming anti-Torah passages of Paul. Unfortunately, churchianity has taken this and other Pauline passages and created a dark and sinister perspective on Torah or the Law. We know differently of course. Torah or the Law was and remains the jewel of our Faith and keeps us on the straight and narrow. If, however, Paul is talking about Judaism—the man made, pagan infused religion of the Jews—then indeed, that form of the Law that is often described as legalism, is certainly a form of bondage that is impossible to keep (reference Matthew 23). And certainly, applying the term bondage in the sense that Paul is addressing Judaism—that is the religion that the Galatian Judaizers were pushing upon the Galatian Gentile believers—would be an apt description. However, from my perspective, I believe Paul is speaking to both legalistic Torah observance and Judaism in this verse. Unfortunately, many in our Hebrew Roots community adhere to Messianic Judaism and worship of Torah that I’ve come to see as being dangerously close to legalism at the expense of Faith in Y’shua Messiah. But I don’t mean to focus on Messianic Judaism in this post. We can certainly visit this topic in a future post.

So it would seem that Paul is explaining to us that the Law was our guardian until Y’shua arrived on the scene; that the Law kept us from straying from God’s good grace and down a road towards total destruction. But then we move on to verse 24 to find further explanation as to the Law’s purpose in the believer’s life. Paul writes: “So then, the law was our guardian (our tutor) until Messiah came in order that we might be justified by faith.” (ESV/NAS) So, it appears from Paul’s perspective that the Law established in every believer, prior to Y’shua, principles that would make him or her an apt—a natural candidate-for justification and righteousness before Yahovah. In other words, in order for one to adhere to a life of obedience to Father, it required faith. One does not just follow a set of rules unless he or she believes in the principles behind those rules. One joins the military or the police force because they believe in the militaristic or legal principles that are established by whichever agency or organization he or she joins. Thus, the recruit and the veteran follow a set of rules and live by those rules because they have faith in the organization and the ones who run those organizations. If one doesn’t have faith in the organization, then they will not obey the rules of that organization. When we received Torah, we followed the commandments of Torah because we believed in the giver of those commandments—the giver of Torah. It was this principle—faith turned into action or obedience in Torah-that established the pathway towards the Faith that we now enjoy and live within. Otherwise, we’d be a wild and crazy group of misfits who would have no understanding as to how we should live within the Faith that Y’shua brought to us. We would be an undisciplined lot as we see so much of in churchianity today. So prior to Y’shua, Torah was our tutor. It was that Faith in Yahovah that led us to be Torah keeping and Torah keeping taught us how to live righteous lives. Torah did not make us righteous. Our Faith in Yahovah was our righteousness, although many of us prior to Y’shua did not understand this at all. It was our desire to please Father and live the way He desired us to live that justified us before Father. And as a result of that Faith that we had in Father and the desire to please Him that we were obedient to Torah.

But then Y’shua Messiah came and established Faith in his work and atoning sacrifice for the cleansing of our sins and establishing of our righteousness before Yahovah. This was first and foremost. We learn of Y’shua Messiah and His work and we believe in Him for our salvation and our right standing before Father. Thus Father apportions or inputs righteousness unto us. Next, we conform to Father’s way of life, following the example of Y’shua, the living Torah. Yah’s grace provides us the spiritual means to adhere to Father’s established righteous living in the midst of an evil and perverted world. Prior to Y’shua, Torah and the Law dictated everything as it related to our relationship with Father. With the advent and work of Y’shua, our Faith in Y’shua dictates everything as it relates to our righteousness and eternal life. Thus in verse 26, Paul refers to us as children (in some translations-as sons) of Yahovah through our Faith in Y’shua Messiah.

Now as it relates to legalistic Judaism, the true Tutor, so to speak, was Torah and not Judaism as so many in our community would assert.(Roth’s AENT commentary on verse 25) Torah prepared us for faith in Y’shua Messiah. It set the stage if you will, for the true Faith once delivered to the first century Saints by Y’shua and His anointed apostles. But let it be known that these three verses in no way indicate that Torah has been done away with and replaced by grace. Paul addressed this issue with the Roman assembly when he wrote: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid.” (Reference Romans 6:1,2) As disciples of Y’shua Messiah and ultimately as children of Yahovah, we are not to have sin in our lives. In order to abolish sin in our lives, we naturally must be able to identify what sin is. John defined sin for us as being “the transgression” or “violation of Torah.” (Reference I John 3:4) Thus we must understand and keep Torah if we are to eliminate sin from our lives. Yahovah hates sin and He will not tolerate it in our lives. Contrary to churchianity’s negative concept of Torah as being evil, Paul wrote: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Though shalt not covet.” (Romans 7:7)

Proper perspective is the key to understanding what Paul was addressing and gaining an understanding of how Torah and Faith work together in the believer’s life. Torah/the Law, stands as our tutor and guardian up to the point of Y’shua and His atoning work on our behalf. Thus, we stand—our eternal life—our righteousness—stands on this truth—and that is the truth of Y’shua’s sacrifice and atonement. Thus, we’ve been purchased with a price as a result of His work on our behalf. We are no longer our own. We have moved from being under the jurisdiction of Torah to being under the jurisdiction of Faith in Y’shua Messiah. Paul instructs us as follows: “For you have been bought with a price. So glorify God in your body…and do not become bondservants of men.” (Reference I Corinthians 6:20; 7:23) And how do we accomplish this? We accomplish this glorying of our bodies and not becoming bondservants to men through obedience to Torah-Y’shua style. So one could say that Torah has move from the primary focus in the believer’s life to that of secondary. In other words, our focus must be faith in Y’shua. How we walk out that faith in Y’shua Messiah is by way of obedience and honoring of Torah.

We pray, trust and hope that you have been blessed and informed by this episode of Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections. If so, please, let us know by shooting us an email to perceptionwp@gmail.com or simply by writing a comment in the comments section that proceeds and precedes each post on the Messianic Torah Observer website. Leave us a comment on SpeakPipe, the voice message application located and floating off to the right-side of the website. Certainly follow us on social media utilizing the icons at the top-most, right-hand column of the website.

In any event, we have been blessed by your presence here today and we leave you with this blessing: May Yahovah bless you and keep you; may Yahovah make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you; May Yahovah lift up His countenance upon you and grant you Shalom. It is in the name of Y’shua HaMashiyach—or redeemer; our Lord; our older brother; the living Torah that we say—So be it—amein.

Shalom and Shavu’otov Saints.