Torah, the teachings of Moses and instructions of God, are vital to know and understand Jesus and His teachings. There are many Christian believers that wish to connect to Israel, and did not grow up reading the Torah or the Bible from a Jewish perspective. Learning Torah may be a new concept for some. When a person first gets the revelation about the Jewish Jesus, the importance of the Torah, and the need to try to implement parts of it in their life, the question comes up “how does the Torah apply to me – as a Christian”? A critical scripture many overlook is 1 Corinthians 7:17-19 where Paul says, “Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. Was a man already circumcised (Jewish) when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised (non Jewish). Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts.” If you are Jewish when you come to faith in Jesus, then you have specific obligations to the Torah and you are to remain Jewish. Do not stop being a Jew. If you are a non-Jew, then you have less obligations to the Torah and you are to remain a non-Jew. This is the rule that Paul gives to all the the church. Paul uses what he says in Romans 4:10-11 as the basis for this understanding when he says, God gave Abraham the covenant while he was as a non-Jew, and therefore he is the father of faith for both the Jews and the non-Jews. Therefore, both Jews and non-Jews have access to be a part of the Covenant of God.
All People are to Make the Neutral Things Holy
In 1796, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi wrote a book called the Tanya and he gave one of the best explanations of why and how humanity needs to apply the Torah, and what the real goal is when applying the principles of the Torah in our life. He explained that God created three things: that which is holy, things that are neutral (they are permissible or allowed), and things that are forbidden (non kosher or things not allowed). Holy things allow godliness to be visible in this world, neutral things have the potential to become holy, and forbidden things cannot be holy at all.
You cannot take something non kosher and make it holy no matter how hard you try. He says every person has a holy soul that is a piece of God, that is pure within them. We all have a neutral soul that God desires for us to make holy, and we all have an unholy soul that each of us is to resist and overcome. Paul also says something similar in Colossians 3:5-8 when he states we are to overcome this unholy soul in us; he calls it an earthly nature. As Rabbi Manis Friedman says, the struggle is between that which is Godly (something more than good), and between human (something that is just good). Every single action we do has a motivation. You do an action because you were created to do it, or you do an action because you just want to do it. Human behavior by default is ungodly until we bring godliness into it. There is always a temptation for evil that comes from outside and we are commanded to rule over it (Genesis 4:7). The human soul inside wants to do the natural things of this world, but we have the opportunity to do the Godly things. Paul talks about this in Romans 7:15-20 where he says I do the things I don’t want to do, and then James mentions this in James 1:14 when he says we are lured and enticed by the flesh.
An example of taking something neutral and making it holy is with art. You can view art as something beautiful and portray the things of God, or you can view art as something perverted and wicked and then it becomes destructive to someone. You can use the same example with any subject such as relationships, education, science, technology, and many other things. For example, wine is used to make Kiddush on Sabbath (a blessing when one declares the Sabbath day holy). In that use wine is holy; the neutral wine becomes something holy. Jesus makes neutral wine holy when it says in Matthew 26:27, “he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you”. On the other hand, a person can drink too much wine and they become a drunkard. Another example is food which by default is neutral, but if you eat it and then bless God’s name you have made it holy. Food that is permissible to eat, and eaten on an Appointed Feast of the Lord such as on Passover becomes holy. Whereas you cannot eat leavened bread during the Feast of Unleavened Bread and try to make it holy. It is just not possible. The Torah teaches us about these things, and it is important to learn what God’s Will is and what He desires us to make holy. This really brings to light the scripture in Ezekiel 44:23 where it says, that the Priest “are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.” Also when Jesus said in John 4:22, “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews”. We have to invest the time to learn the Torah, and that only comes from study under those who understand it, and then applying what you learn in your life as you understand it.
We Are Commanded To Make God a Dwelling Place In This World
We are to make God a dwelling place in this world, and we are to do this by living a holy life (Exodus 25:8, Hebrews 12:14). We live a holy life by learning what is permissible and what is forbidden through the Torah, and then separating between the two and making the permissible (neutral) things holy. Once we learn what is forbidden and recognize the shortcomings in our life, we are to repent and make correction and overcome our sin. This is exactly what God told Cain to do in Genesis 4:7. Living a holy life is studying the Torah and learning God’s instructions (commandments) and how they apply to us individually. Joshua 1:7 says to, “Be careful to obey all the laws my servant Moses gave you”, and Jesus said in Luke 16:31 if a person does not listen to Moses, they will not believe the message from a person that was raised from the dead, i.e. they will not even believe the teaching of Jesus who was raised from the dead. Many Christians disregard the teachings of Moses, but say they believe in Jesus. Jesus also said in John 5:46, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.”
Every single person is born neutral, and our job in this world is to make this flesh which is neutral – holy. By doing this we make this world a dwelling place for God. When you spend your day making neutral things holy, the unholy things (sin) do not seem to matter any more because you are focused on God. As it states in Leviticus 26:1-13, “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them … I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people”.
A Person Must Apply What They Learn
Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”. Seeking the Kingdom is making God a priority in your life, and seeking righteousness is studying His Torah and applying what you learn from it. When you apply what you learn, and then live it out, you are prioritizing the Kingdom of God. In Matthew 7:24, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock”. FFOZ’s Torah Club, Chronicles of the Messiah, gave one of the best examples of a statement from Chapter 3 of the Mishna where it says, “Anyone whose wisdom is greater than his deeds to what is he comparable? To a tree whose branches are many and whose roots are few, and the wind comes and turns it over … But one whose deeds are greater than his wisdom to what is he comparable? To a tree whose branches are few and whose roots are many, that even if all the winds in the world blow against it, they do not move it from its place.” Jesus also said in Matthew 7:26-27, “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Everything Jesus taught came directly from the Torah. As a disciple of Jesus we are to learn the instructions from the Torah and how to apply them in our life just as He did. There are different instructions for Jews than for non-Jews, and these instructions take a lifetime to learn. Seeking out the specific instructions of the Kingdom of God is a lifelong journey of repentance and correction. One must be humble and faithful to live them out. Proverbs 28:9 says, “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law (Torah), even his prayer is an abomination”.
Eternal life is knowing God, and knowing God comes through learning and applying His commandments (John 17:3). Jesus was asked in Matthew 19:16-22 how to gain eternal life, and his reply was to keep the commandments. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:3, “But if anyone loves God, he is known by God”, and then Jesus also said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”. Keeping God’s commandments is the way to know God, and knowing God is eternal life. Paul says the same thing in Romans 2:6-11 when he says, “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life”. Torah is the best way to attach yourself to the Jewish people, and the primary reason a person accepts Jesus as their Savior is to attach themselves to the Covenant that God made with Israel (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Keeping God’s commandments is the responsibility of every disciple of Jesus who wants to be a part of the Covenant of God, and in doing so you will know God. There is a process to learning and applying them, but God has given us this life to work through the process. To learn more go to HowDoIRepent.org or read the Gospel Message on this website.
Daniel Lancaster gives a very good explanation of how the Torah applies to a Christian who is a non-Jew in this 34 minute audio:
If you want to learn more about Torah, another good resource is Torah Club. It is one of the best places for Christinas to learn more about Jesus and how to apply Torah in their life.