The Torah, also known as the Five Books of Moses, contains 613 Commandments (mitzvot), of which are 248 positive commands and 365 restrictions. Do we have to obey all of them i.e. 613 commandments? If we obey all of them, then we will not be the new covenant people, but remain the old covenant people of God. And if we don’t obey any of those, then we are not God’s people.
This depicts that some of those laws are still to be obeyed and followed by the new covenant people of God. Then, how to know which of those 613 laws are still binding on the new covenant people? The rule is simple, we don’t pick and choose what we like and leave what we don’t like.
We listen to what Yeshua the Messiah and first century’s apostles taught through their words and actions in the New Testament about these various laws. If it is attested in the New Testament, then new covenant people have to follow it. And if it is clearly told that a particular law is fulfilled and no longer binding on us, then we don’t need to follow it.
These 613 commandments can be further categorized into 8 categories, viz. (i) The Law of Love, (ii) The 10 Commandments Law, (iii) The Dietary Laws, (iv) The Tithing Laws, (v) The Laws of Sacrifices and Offerings, (vi) The Law of Circumcision, (vii) The Civil Laws and (viii) The Laws of Ritual Purity and Uncleanliness.
1. The Law of Love
Law and love may mean different things to different people. In fact, some people see law and love as opposed to each other. But they’re not opposing ideas in the Bible. Yeshua and the apostles Paul and John, all say that love fulfils The Law of God. Love for God and loving our neighbour as we love ourselves is what obeying God’s law is all about.
2. The 10 Commandments Law
The Ten Commandments of God that was given to the children of Israel by speaking to them from mount Sinai, and through Moses that was written in two tables with the finger of God. These commandments were existed from the creation itself, but for the first time it was given to children of Israel in the written form at mount Sinai.
Some believers say that 9 of the 10 commandments are binding upon us, but the 4th Commandment [i.e. Sabbath Commandment] is not clearly mentioned in the New Testament. In fact, more than the other 9, the Sabbath is mentioned the most number of times in the New Testament.
In more than 50 places in the New Testament the Sabbath is mentioned and not even once Yeshua or the apostles ever said that it will be changed or that it will end.
We have a very direct and positive command to keep the 10 commandments even in the New Testament. So, it is clear all the 10 commandments are still binding upon us as well.
3. The Dietary Laws
In the biblical account of the two trees (Genesis 2:8–9; 3:1–7), we saw that God did not force Adam and Eve to accept His divinely revealed instructions. They chose to use human reasoning, separate from God’s directions. To win the age-old battle against disease, each of us must make our own choices today. Will we obey God, or do we think we have a better way (Deuteronomy 30:15 20; Matthew 7:14)? It is very clear that the dietary laws of the Old Testimony continue in the New Testament.
4. The Tithing Laws
God says He will bless you if you begin tithing as He commands through faith in Him and in His word. Literally hundreds of case histories may be cited to show that God certainly does bless the tither in many ways.
He may not always do so immediately you may have to obey Him and exercise faith for a while. But as you serve Him, obey Him, and trust Him, God will keep His part of the bargain.
Tithing is a perfect system of God, even to be carried out in the New Testament Church.
5. The Laws of Sacrifices and Offerings
The order in which the core sacrificial prescriptions appear in Leviticus 1–16 is logical and begins with previously known categories of sacrifices that individual Israelites could voluntarily offer.
Leviticus 4–5 introduce two new kinds of mandatory expiatory sacrifices that were instituted with the establishment of the sanctuary: sin offering and trespass offering. It makes sense in terms of didactic effectiveness that Leviticus 1–5 introduce the five basic categories of sacrifices – burnt offering, grain offering, peace offering, sin offering and trespass offering – one at a time, before supplementary instructions in Leviticus 6–7 that are primarily for the priests.
As believers in Yeshua the Messiah, we have the assurance of pardon, and that our names are inscribed in the Book of Life not by our works but through our faith. And we do not need to ask to be inscribed every year, as Messiah’s work was and is final.
The sacrifices in the Old Testament pointed forward to the perfect and final sacrifice of Messiah. As with the rest of the Law, the sacrifices were “a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Messiah” (Colossians 2:17).
Believers today recognize Messiah’s atoning death on the cross as the only needed sacrifice for sin, offered once for all (Hebrews 10:1–10). His death opened the “holy place” for us (Hebrews 10:19–22) so that we can freely enter God’s presence and offer our “sacrifice of praise” (Hebrews 13:15; cf. 9:11–28; 4:14—5:10).
The Apostle Paul assures us that God, rich in mercy, loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, making us alive together with Messiah. (Ephesians 2:4-6). Further he says, Yeshua’s sacrifice is in vain if we I depended for my salvation in old sacrifices and offerings. It can be referred in Galatian 2:20-21, 1 Corinthians 15:14, 17, 54-55, 58; 2 Corinthians 5:21-; 6:1-13….] In Hebrews 10 also we read that these offerings and sacrifices were the shadow of Yeshua the Messiah.
6. The Law of Circumcision
The Council of Jerusalem or Apostolic Council is a council described in chapter 15 of the Acts of the Apostles, allegedly held in Jerusalem around c. 48–50 AD. The Jerusalem consultation, recounted in Acts 15:1-31, describes a significant practical issue regarding the integration of Gentile believers into what had been a primarily Jewish body of believers. The council did not desire to burden Gentile converts to believers with the Jewish yoke (Acts 15:10, 20). This depicts that the physical descendants of Abraham and those inhabit in the physical promised land where government and civil laws are governed as per the commandments of God, have the obligation to be circumcised both, physically (outward) and spiritually (inward).
7. The Civil Laws
It is not up to believers in Messiah today to enforce these and other civil penalties; rather, the execution of these sentences is now in the hands of civil authorities.
Clearly, God has given worldly rulers the right to enforce civil law now. In that regard, they are His ministers, responsible for maintaining the civil rules formerly carried out by the government of God’s nation of Israel.
8. The Laws of Ritual Purity and Uncleanliness
Some Jews believe that the ceremonial law is not fixed. They hold that, as societies evolve, so do God’s expectations of how His followers should relate to Him. This view is not indicated in the Bible. The believers out of the nation Israel are not bound by ceremonial law. Galatians 3:23-25 explains that since Yeshua the Messiah has come, believers are not required to sacrifice or circumcise. The Ceremonial Law helped the Israelites was introduced to be more disciplined than the surrounding nations.
However, until and unless you are born again, keeping these Commandments and Laws of God will be of burdensome. But after born again, people of God will love to keep them.
