What about the Torah? Did Jesus abolish the Law?
Yeshua said, "Don't think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets. I didn't come to destroy, but to fulfil" (Matthew 5:17). The new covenant writes Torah on the heart (Jeremiah 31:33).
The new covenant promised in Jeremiah 31 isn't a covenant without Torah: God says, "I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it" (JPS 1917). The Hebrew word for law there is torati, "my Torah".
Yeshua upheld the commandments and summarised them as loving God (Deuteronomy 6:5) and loving your neighbour (Leviticus 19:18). What he changed is how we are made right with God: not by our record, but by his atoning death, as the Day of Atonement pictured.
Messianic Jews differ on how much of the traditional observance they keep, the way Jewish communities differ. What they share is that Torah points to Messiah.
In the Scriptures
33כִּ֣י זֹ֣את הַבְּרִ֡ית אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶכְרֹת֩ אֶת־בֵּ֨ית יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל אַחֲרֵ֨י הַיָּמִ֤ים הָהֵם֙ נְאֻם־יְהוָ֔ה נָתַ֤תִּי אֶת־תּֽוֹרָתִי֙ בְּקִרְבָּ֔ם וְעַל־לִבָּ֖ם אֶכְתֲּבֶ֑נָּה וְהָיִ֤יתִי לָהֶם֙ לֵֽאלֹהִ֔ים וְהֵ֖מָּה יִֽהְיוּ־לִ֥י לְעָֽם׃
33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the LORD, I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people;
Jeremiah 31:33 (Hebrew & JPS 1917)
5וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכָל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ׃
5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Deuteronomy 6:5 (Hebrew & JPS 1917)
18לֹֽא־תִקֹּ֤ם וְלֹֽא־תִטֹּר֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י עַמֶּ֔ךָ וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהוָֽה׃
18Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:18 (Hebrew & JPS 1917)
A new covenant Yom Kippur: the Day of Atonement Ask about it
Sources
- Matthew 5:17; Jeremiah 31:33 (JPS 1917); Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18
