Open my heart to Your Torah, that I may hasten to do Your Mitzvot.

There are several reasons why the Torah is to be lived. These are not presented in order of importance; they are meant to be considered equally. As we do so, a more complete picture will unfold.

Because God Tells Us To! One word frequently used to describe much of the content of the Torah is the Hebrew mitzvah. This simply means "commandment." It is something God has told us to do. Don’t be frightened by that word "command," as if it is something only for the Tanach. Although Jewish scholars are quick to assert that there are 613 commandments in the Torah, Besora Tova (Good News) scholars have noted that there are over 1,000 such "commandments" in the Besora Tova! A commandment is a commandment. After all, what is the difference between celebrating Shavuot (Pentecost) and choosing elders to govern your fellowship? Both are commanded.

Torah Gives Definition What does it mean to be Jewish? What does it mean to be part of the physical nation of Israel? Does it mean listening to Klezmer music? Does it mean eating blintzes? These and many other traditions are purely cultural. But the Torah presents a required lifestyle of holiness that is cross-cultural. Whether from Morocco or Brooklyn, Jewish people are bound together by certain practices, such as circumcision and eating kosher. These are taught in the Torah. It is the Torah, then, that gives the descendants of Jacob their identity, therefore believing in Maran Yeshua only makes that identity complete.

Because It Is Who We Are! If we follow Torah only because it is commanded, it can easily turn into legalism. Let us enter by a different door altogether. Let us enter the arena of Torah through the door of our identity in Messiah, and see where it leads us. The Scripture teaches us a critical truth. In bringing us to faith in our Rabbi, Maran Yeshua HaMashiach, God has made us into completely new people.

We are new creations, with the Messiah living in us. Moreover, we are receivers of and participants in the Besora Tova. Yermiyahu / Jeremiah 31 teaches that God promises to write Torah on our hearts when He makes us new. Do not miss the full implications of that. Torah is written on our hearts! Among other things, this means that Torah is part of our basic makeup as believers in Yeshua HaMashiach. The new-creation man or woman, therefore, should only do what comes naturally to him or her. In this case, it means living out what is written in the Word—all of the Word.

The Mirror Why do we follow Torah? Because it is who we are as new creations. When we read of the redeemed person as described by the precepts of Torah, we are, in reality, reading a description of who God has made us in the Messiah. Let us return again to the concept of the mirror image referred to in Ya’acov / James 1:22-25. Here we learn the importance of being doers of the Word instead of listeners only. The illustration is of a person looking at himself in a mirror, but verse 25 describes that "mirror" as the Torah. (Though translated "law" in nearly every English translation, it is actually Torah / Instructions.) He who does not do the Word is one who looks at his face in the Torah and immediately forgets what he looks like. In that state, therefore, he does not do the Word. But the person who sees himself in the mirror—the Torah—and remembers what he looks like, this is the one who does the Word. When we look into the mirror of the Torah, our reflection is that of a redeemed person as described therein. The individual teachings, in essence, describe what the redeemed one looks like. Because it is Maran Yeshua HaMashiach who has made us new, made us the righteousness of God (Korintim Bet / II Corinthians 5:21), all that is left for us to do is to choose to walk in that new life—the righteous life of Yeshua HaMashiach—the life of Torah. Therefore, we do not follow Torah as though it were merely a list of do’s and don’ts. We follow it because it is written on our hearts. It is who we are as new creations. It comes naturally to us because God has made us into new people! But unless we know what our real spiritual identity is, we can’t enter into the whole realm of our new life in Messiah that is available through the Torah.

Because Maran Yeshua Mashiach Did It Don’t all believers want to do what the Messiah did, and to be like Him? We are quick to practice letting his love flow out from us, and learning to worship and pray as he worshiped and prayed. Rightly so. But what about how Yeshua HaMashiach followed Torah? His life was so characterized by Torah that even as late as the next generation of Jewish believers after Him, He was referred to as "The Torah." Even Yochanan / John 1 describes Yeshua as the Word, a reference to the Torah. There is one more key to this point which will unlock its importance for us. The key is to remember that Yeshua is in us! We are new creations with the Living Torah inside of us. This truth is so powerful that, when we think about it, the question we should be asking is not "Should we follow the Torah?" but "How do we come to know this ‘treasure in jars of clay’?" (Korintim Bet / II Corinthians 4:7)

Because of What It Communicates to Unbelievers We need to ask some very serious questions. What is the prevailing anti-Torah theology saying to the traditional Jewish world? (Whom we are told to tell that King Messiah already came!) How do they see us? What do they understand of our thinking? Moreover, what is the message being conveyed to our families and Jewish friends by our attitude toward Torah? Simply stated, we are communicating confusion and error to the people through whom the Word of truth originally came. As a result, on the human level (that is, apart from the elective grace of God) there is very little motivation within the traditional Jewish world to hear the Good News.

According to Rambam’s 13 principals of the Jewish faith, he states in points 8-9: “I believe with perfect faith that the entire Torah that we now have is that which was given to Moses. I believe with perfect faith that this Torah will not be changed, and that there will never be another given by God.” 

This means, that we have to believe that just as God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow so is the Torah He gave us, it never changes. He is Eternal and His Word is eternal. HaShem first communicated His Message from Adam all the way till today, and we have a continual line of faith, a faith-chain that is never broken. When we believe that Torah is optional, and that Yeshua did not commanded us to keep it, we are saying that: “Yeshua breaks the continued line of faith, and that He starts a new one that never existed, thus committing idolatry.” 

We believe that our holy Rabbi, Maran Yeshua HaMashiach kept the whole Torah (he was a Pharisaic Rabbi). Every little bit of it. He never taught His future followers not to follow Torah. In contrary, He commanded us to follow His example (Mattityahu / Mathew 5.18) and do what the Torah says, go out and do good.

httpvp://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=7F2B45CE2EB38E28