The short answer is that legalism is a system of laws, etc. that is man made, and is believed that by adherence to them, you will be justified before Yahweh. On the other hand, obedience to Yahweh’s Torah is contrary to legalism, in that a Messianic Torah Observant believer is one that follows Yahweh’s standards, and not man made rules that are contrary to Yahweh's Torah. Obedience to Yahweh’s standards (Torah) comes because of the Grace extended to us through the reconciliation of the sinner to Yahweh Elohim through Yahshua’s faithfulness and our trust in His work. Read on for details…

Christians opposing Messianic believers often misuse Ephesians. These verses are actually part of the charter for Messianic Judaism. They are fundamental both to the nature of Torah (Yahweh's Instructions). Which still exist and are binding on believers. Eph.1:22.

We need to be reminded that Sha'ul (Paul) is speaking to Gentiles and not Jews.

Quoted: Eph 2:14-16

He addresses the Gentiles ("in your former state," v.11); "when you were dead because of your sins" in five ways:

1. You were without relationship to Moshiach (Messiah), since "moshiach" is entirely a Jewish concept. The word "Christ" has such a Gentile ring to Jews that they sometimes forget that the very concept of the Messiah was Jewish. The relationship to the Messiah is mentioned first because it is the direct means by which all the other deficiencies are remedied.

2. You were estranged, excluded, alienated from the national life of Israel. The Greek word translated "national life" is poleteia, which gives us the English words like "polity" and "politics." In the Septuagint this word "poleteia" in George Kittel's " Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, does not mean civil rights, constitution, state, but rather the pious order of life which, ordained by the Torah (Law) of Moshe (Moses), is inherited from the fathers. With one exception, it is a religious and moral concept rather than a political concept; it denotes the "walk" determined by the "Mosaic Law." (Volume 6, p. 526). The exception is that "poleteia" means "civil rights" in the figurative sense of the privileged religious position of Israel as the recipient of the promises."

Gentiles should not think of their own union with Israel as only a matter of rights and privileges, but rather it implies an obligation to observe a kodosh (holy) way of life that has its origins in Yahweh's relationship with the Jew through 'Torah." (Law-Instructions).

When Ruth a Gentile joined Israel she said, "Your people shall be my people, even before she said, "Your Elohim shall be my Elohim." Gentile Christians who regard themselves as the rightful possessors of the promises are not submitting to the rightful message of these verses. Gentiles are joined to Israel not the other way around. Sha'ul is saying Israel is the norm, the "center of gravity", and not the Gentiles. Romans 11:16-26 portrays the Gentiles as wild olive branches grafted into the cultivated olive trees which is Israel, the Jewish peoples, and cautions Gentile Christians about pride.

3. Because Gentiles were estranged from the communal life of Israel, Gentiles were "foreigners to the covenants, embodying Yahweh's promises:" these include the covenant with Abraham (Gal 3-4, Romans 4, the covenant with Moshe and the "New" "refreshed - renewed Covenant with Yahshua, which was given to Israel and not to the Gentiles. Gentiles are foreigners to it except through faith.
4. You (Gentiles) were in this world, without hope

5. Fifth, without Yahweh, for apart from Yahweh there is only false hope offered by false religions and non-religions.

Conclusion: Yahweh chose the Jewish people to receive certain promises and called them to exemplify Yahweh's involvement in human history, and life. Jews were chosen to make the kodosh scriptures (Bible) known to the world, through presenting an example of dedication to Yahweh even though apart from the Messiah, and mostly through Yahshua the Jewish Messiah Himself, and His Jewish followers. The Jews have in measure fulfilled part of that calling. Gentiles who are joined to Israel as Shaul (Paul) explained in Ephesians, that is through the Living (Yahshua) and Written Torah have a share in both the promises and the calling.

Now to verse 14 of the above Scripture:

Shalom means more than "peace." Moreover, Yahshua living in both believing Gentiles (new Israelites)  and Jews is what has made us both one. The m'chitzah (that which divides something in half) (partition) is now broken in half. The same idea is carried in Gal. 3:28 by saying there is neither male nor female nor Jew or Greek (technical word for Gentile) in Moshiach. If a Gentile has become a true believer, he is joined to Israel and a partaker of the Covenants. A full-fledged citizen. Otherwise not. Sha'ul is saying that this boundary fence is done away in Moshiach. The same is true of Gentile believers. Just as the veil of the Temple was torn in two when the Moshiach died (Matthew 27:52), allowing everyone united with Moshiach to enter into the Holy of Holies (a privilege previously reserved for the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) we who are united with Moshiach our Cohen Gadol may enter into the Holy of Holies with Him. In this way, Sha'ul is saying that Yahshua has removed the barrier of Believing Gentiles mixing with and being counted with Yahweh's people. They are no longer held in the Court of the Gentiles but may enter into the Temple proper.

This section is where uninformed Christians make accusation against Messianic Jews that they are trying to erect this wall of partition by emphasizing Torah (Yahweh's standard of conduct) as the believer's only way of life in Moshiah. First, they misunderstand what Shaul is saying. Shaul is saying "no longer are Gentiles separated from Yahweh's people, but they may enter into the covenants and be one with them in the Moshiach Yahshua. Even if we take the terminology as translated in our English Bibles Jeremiah 31:30-33 specifically states that the "New" (refreshed-renewed covenant – see your concordance) Covenant is made with Israel and not the Gentile church. Therefore, Gentiles have to be joined to Israel and not that Jews are to be joined to the church. To try to make it read this way is an insult to the Jews and to Yahweh's Word.

There are two questions evident here. First, considering Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; is an explanation set forth as to what the "the middle wall that is enmity between Jews and Gentiles as examined in verse 14. The second consideration is Sha'ul placing Torah (commandments - ordinances) in opposition with the "enmity." From a Gentile Antinomian perspective Sha'ul seems to be saying that Yahshua (1) broke the middle wall which is the enmity between Jews and Gentiles, and (2) abolished the Torah. However, if you read carefully "enmity" goes not with the "middle wall," but with the "Torah."

What is the grammatical significance of Sha'ul placing the "Torah in opposition with "the Torah." If he means the torah is identical with the enmity, he necessarily abolished the Torah too, in contradiction to Matthew 5:17 where Yahshua says, "Think not that I am come to destroy Torah (the law), or the Prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." The technical rabbinical words employed here by Yahshua means: (1) "destroy" means to incorrectly interpret Torah and "fulfill" means to correctly interpret it. Even so, the word "fulfill" is literally in the Greek "to fill up." This is no way gives grounds for thinking the Torah as having been abolished when three words earlier in the verse has Yahshua saying He did not come to destroy the Law! This is analogous with the Jewish Messianic concept that the Messiah will interpret Torah correctly for us to follow. No one can seriously describe Torah (Yahweh's instructions - Torah) as enmity. Enmity means: a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred, ill will. Yahweh's Torah is none of these and no believer could justly say so. The other view is that Shaul separates "the enmity" and "the Torah" (commandments ordinances) by the phrase "in the flesh of him," which means the Torah is not the "enmity", nor did the Torah "cause" the "enmity" directly (Romans 7:5-14). See Sha'ul's own refutation of the idea that the Torah causes sin of any kind, and enmity between Jews and Gentiles is certainly sin. Rather this passage shows that although the Torah is itself "kodosh" (holy) (Romans 7:12) it occasions sin (in this case enmity between Jews and Gentiles) by stimulating people's sinful propensities (Rom 5-12-21).

The enmity between Jews and Gentiles has four components:

1. Gentile envy of the special status accorded by Yahweh to Israel and the Torah
2. Jewish pride at being chosen
3. Gentile resentment of that pride
4. Mutual dislike of each other's customs. This is a common cause of friction between cultures, but Jewish customs are different for a unique reason. They did not merely evolve; rather, they were the Jewish people's response to the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. That is why it is appropriate to say that the "enmity" between Jews and Gentiles was "occasioned " by the Torah. The Moshiach destroys the enmity by showing Jew and Gentile that they are mutually needy at the foot of the execution stake, but none of this abolishes Torah. Yahweh states, "He changes not." Nor does His Torah. In the Jerusalem Bible, the translation is more correctly rendered for this passage. It is translated thus: destroying in His own person the hostility caused by the rules and decrees of the Law." This rendering does not destroy or abolish the Law, which agrees with Scripture and Yahshua's own statements.

Two other versions, Moffat and Phillips say that the Moshiach destroyed the "hostility" of the feud of the Law, not the Law itself. They may have a less than favorable view of the Torah, but they refrain from stating that the Law is abolished.

Because Shaul was a learned Jew, a Pharisee, schooled in rabbinic thought, the Gentile Roman-Greek mindset fails to interpret him correctly. Peter says it this way regarding Shaul's epistles:

2 Pet 3:16 "As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction."

Sha'ul is the most misunderstood Apostle and most Christians interpret him wrongly because of their lack of understanding of the Hebraic nature of his writings. Also, because there was a push to deJudaize the "Church" and expel all Jews and translations have followed an agenda of disfavoring Torah observance, to one of anti-Semitism that is current even today. Because of the difficulty of a Gentile following Shaul's rabbinic thought, much of what he wrote has been badly misinterpreted and mistranslated. Sha'ul is wrongly esteemed by a vast majority of Christians to a higher degree than Yahshua, and Sha'ul's writings are held in higher regard by Christians than the words of Yahshua Himself. We hear Shaul being quoted far more frequently than Yahshua. One reason is that Yahshua never spoke of disregarding Torah. He called for obedience to Yahweh's Torah. After all, how could He have done otherwise, He was the manifested Torah.

As to What Yahshua did on the Sabbath (Friday at sundown to Saturday at sundown). He did the Will of His Father. He attended Synagogue and attended the Festivals (7) times a year, and (3) times a year in the Temple as required by Torah. Synagogues were places of study. They were not established in the likeness of churches that would be familiar to Gentiles. The Temple will be reestablished in the Millennium and sacrifices will be instituted again. (Mal 3:4) Then shall the offerings (sacrifices) of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.) Chapter 3 is prophecy for the end of days after the Messiah’s return, when He shall "suddenly" come to His Temple. Doesn't sound like the Torah or even the Temple cult is dead does it? Yahweh's festival of Tabernacles will be kept and sacrifices offered and failure to attend His festival will cause starvation.

As to the moneychangers, it was their dishonesty that caused Yahshua to evict them. They changed money for Jews from all over the world into Temple currency, but in the process, they cheated them. This exchanged money was used to buy sacrifices to be used for atonement for those who came from outside of Israel for the three annual feasts as opposed to those in Israel who were basically farmers that brought their own sacrifices from their farms. It was an idea that had been corrupted as we can see today in churches, etc.. "Prosperity Preaching" for one. Give me $10.00 and G-d will give you a $100.00.

Healing on the Shabbat has never been forbidden by Judaism then or now. In fact, not to give assistance to someone in trouble, ill or in danger was a sin (Torah breaking). We can see the same mentality in churches today. Some focus on smoking, others drinking, etc. as that which is not tolerated at all. Substituting their own standards instead of Yahweh’s and that’s legalism. The situation here was if the illness was not life threatening then why not wait until Sunday to heal. It was rabbinical Halacha, a decision of the Jerusalem rabbis. Yahshua pointed out to them that it was not wrong to do well on Shabbat. Much of the disputes between Yahshua and the leaders of the Jerusalem religious order focused on halachic decision that differed from those in Galilee, not on Yahweh's Torah. For instance, His disciples eating in the fields. It was permitted to eat on Shabbat of course, but the dispute here centered in how they ate. Galilee rabbis differed in how the corn was to be eaten by rubbing and not by eating directly from the cob. This was all rabbinical traditions and not Torah that they fought over. In Mark where many Christians believe Yahshua's polemic is about unpermitted food, it is not, but is about ritual hand washing another rabbinical halachic decision that Yahshua corrected by employing a rabbinic argument called v'kal khomer "greater to the lesser." Neither healing nor eating on Shabbat was forbidden. Traveling on Shabbat was also permitted, but the rabbis instituted a limit of about 1/2 mile as a Shabbat day's journey. If you know Jerusalem or Israel, a half-mile journey would be the norm. This was a hedge placed around Yahweh's Torah to keep people from traveling to say Queensland to see a football game instead of going to synagogue to study Torah as Yahweh commanded us to occupy ourselves with Torah on the Shabbat.

As to the Priests, you probably should mean the Sanhedrin, the ruling body under the dictatorship of Rome. The priests at the time were not those qualified by Yahweh’s Torah or were they of the Priestly line. They were lackey's who had paid for their position to the Romans. The Catholic Church did this later as well. They were hardly Jews or religious. Many were not born Jews, but were from the provinces who purportedly converted to Judaism in order to hold office. The King himself was not a Jew. The Sanhedrin was the judicial body that decided cases of law. The Romans saw Yahshua as a threat to the order of things. The Jews were notorious for rioting and rebellion against Rome. They and the Leadership entered into a conspiracy to execute Yahshua because He was a political threat, not because He entered into rabbinical argument with the rabbis. Everyone did that. The Sadducees opposed the Pharisees, the Essenes opposed both, etc. et al.

Yahshua did not show disdain for "religion" for His religion was that of Torah. He disagreed with how it was overlaid with man's traditions. He practiced 1^st century Judaism and to the letter. Christians today would call Him legalist. He advised in Scripture that the Rabbis occupied Moshe's seat and if you wanted to walk His walk, followers were to do what they taught, but not what they did. In other words, follow Torah teaching from Yahweh's Torah. That means keeping the festivals, Shabbaton (Sabbaths), dietary laws, etc., as commanded in Scripture. Like today we are to look to Yahweh's Torah for instruction, and follow them, and if taught by a "religious" leader, follow his teaching, but if he is not Torah observant do not to follow his life style. It was hypocrisy Yahshua condemned. In the body of professed believers, the same situation exists today. We do not practice what we preach, but even worse teachers only teach what the congregation wants to hear and not what they need, so we in essence are worse than the former.

Christians have to understand that the Greek has only one word that expresses "Law." That is nomos. Greek does not have a word that expresses the difference in types of "law." English has one word for "snow." The Eskimos have seven (7) words to express snow and each expresses a specific kind of snow. English is limited in this manner as pertains to snow and Greek is limited as pertains to "Law." Shaul had only this word to address either Yahweh's Torah or "legalism" that overlaid it, referred to sometimes as "traditions." We have to look to the subject and understand what informs the writer's words. His subject, his culture, the time when it was written and to whom, all play a part in the correct interpretation. In the case of the Scriptures where Yahweh's Torah is equated with Truth and anti-Torah with a lie; if we accept that Shaul condemns Torah or the Law; we find ourselves in contradiction to the rest of the Bible, and therefore the Scriptures cannot be inerrant. In the case of this scripture, let's open it up. First, it should be translated "you are not under legalism," (Standards set by man and not Yahweh’s Torah), which is defined in Torah as a perversion of Torah into a system of rules and regulations for the earning of Yahweh's praise without trusting, trusting or communing with Yahweh, Giver of Torah.

We are forgiven for past sins as the following verses state. We are accountable for all sins committed after believing in the faithfulness of Yahshua to Yahweh's Torah. Read it!

What then is our duty after being reconciled to Yahweh judiciously? We are then to obey His voice, that is keep His mitzvot (commandments), His Torah. If we fail, we repent and are restored. If we commit highhanded sin we are not restored, and fall away from grace. The definition of a True Believer as given by Yahshua in Revelation and that is one, who carries the testimony of Yahshua and guards (keeps) the Commandments (Torah) of Yahweh. That means to teach and do them. Coming to Yahshua reconciles us to Yahweh but maintaining that posture requires obedience to Torah as Yahshua plainly states in the Seven Fold witness in Revelations.

In this passage Rom 6:14 twice is stated "under legalism" - "under grace." This word in Greek is upo, which means "controlled by" as at 3:9. It could be rendered "in subjection to." In what sense are believers in subjection to grace? We are not to be in subjection to legalism but we are to live within the framework of Torah. Yahweh's giving of Torah is referred to in itself as an act of grace. which the Brit Chadashah (New Testament) compares with His sending Yahshua the "Living Torah." Yahweh's people have always been under grace as taught by Torah in the Tanach (Old Testament), and under Torah (a gracious subjection) but never under legalism (a harsh subjection).

To do the Will of Our Father we must discover His will in Torah.

I've already touched on this verse earlier, but it is also important to know that Scripture teaches that Yahshua is our Cohen Gadol or High Priest. He is our intercessor as was the High Priest of old. He said, "I am the way, the life, and no one comes to the Father except by me" (Paraphrase). Without Him as our Cohen Gadol, we cannot approach the Father. We still cannot approach Yahweh without the intercession of Yahshua. During the Millennium He will sit on the throne in Jerusalem and officiate at the Temple as in days of old. Nothing has changed. We may boldly approach since we are in Yahshua ,and He is in us if we answer to Yahshua's definition of what a true believer is.

Yahshua said obey His words. Yahshua taught Torah. Do we obey Torah? There are 1050 commandments in the Brit Chadashah (New Testament) and there are 613 in the Tanach (Old Testament). The OT is cited 695 times in the NT. Yahshua did as the rabbis said. He came to interpret Torah for us. He said that if a man looks on a woman with lust he has committed the sin of adultery already. He said if a man is angry with his brother he is in danger of being guilty of murder. Here we see Him elaborating on Yahweh's Torah concerning the sin of adultery and murder by adding elements of heart intent. (See the Sermon on the Mount.) Yahshua's commands are tougher than those found in the Old Testament because of this spiritual element. All the Laws of the OT are revisited and restated in the NT. If one is to say the OT is not for them, they cannot escape Yahweh's Torah, for it is reiterated in the NT and elaborated upon. In the Book of Hebrews, it states plainly that the NT was given as Torah.

Many people use the above scripture to justify not attending a shul, synagogue or assembly of true believers. Most are trying to justify their not participating within a body of believers and not supporting the ministry. Unfortunately, attendance within a body of believers is ordained by Yahweh. We are to edify each other, to encourage each other and to support Yahweh's ministers so that they might carry on His work. Earlier we noted, that Paul went to the synagogue daily. Now here is a man filled with the Ruach HaKodesh (The Set-Apart or Holy Spirit), most highly esteemed by today’s Christians, yet he attended synagogue daily. It was the custom of Jews to attend synagogues then and now three times daily for prayers. It was a place of study and for proof texting Scripture. Unlike today, where "churchianity" has denigrated into crass commercialism and entertainment with little study of Yahweh's Torah (Word) or discipline. Unfortunately, we also find more and more aberrant forms of so called Messianics ("Messianity)", a coined word denoting Christians who have adopted a smattering of Judaism, yet they retain all or most of their old Christian/pagan doctrines. Such are proliferating because most people cannot stand sound doctrine and instruction from Yahweh’s Torah.

More practically, Shaul is addressing false religious temples to unknown or pagan gods. To take this to mean Believers are not to assemble themselves together is irresponsible. It is taken out of context, as is so much scripture by anyone with their own agenda. He simply is saying the True Elohim cannot be confined to a building or within a stone idol. Yahweh Himself placed His glory over the Tabernacle, in the Temple in Jerusalem, and will do so again in the form of Yahshua.

Yes, and that is why we are to be Torah observant, because anything contrary to His Torah is an affront to Him and is sin.

If we are to have Yahweh's Ruach (Spirit) we must have His Torah, for Torah is light. Untruth or anti-torah is darkness and sin.

This is a metaphor of the Messianic community as a "building" and is also found at 1 Peter 2:4-8. Yahshua is the cornerstone (Ps 118:22-23) the Hallel found in the Passover. This means that corporately, Moshiach's body is growing into a holy temple as in 1 Cor 3:16; 2 Cor 6:16, while individually, each believer's body is already a temple for the Ruach HaKodesh.

Scripturally, there is no "church." Scripture does not recognize a "church." This is a word incorrectly translated from the Greek word, "ecclesia" meaning "called out ones." There is no linguistic basis for employing the word "church." It was syncretized into the biblical language incorporating paganism into the assembly to satisfy the sun-worshippers who were brought into the "church," in 325 CE by Constantine. The implication is of course to connote a religious body. The Bible speaks of the "called out ones." There is no such word "church" in the manuscripts or any equivalent word that could be so translated. It is a translation into English from the Greek word "ecclesia" meaning "called out ones" (to call out). The origin and derivation of the word church comes from "Circe", daughter of a well-known sun-deity, Helios. (See any dictionary) This is a pagan term introduced through Christianity by Gentiles in the early "church." Better to use: Congregation, Synagogue, Assembly, and Shul.

It is said: There is only one recognized "Church." The Body of Christ. If a believer alone or a group of believers are joined together in a "Church" and are responsible only to Jesus, they are part of the Body of Christ.

Is Jesus a separate Elohim? Are you espousing "Jesus Only" theology? What happened to Yahweh the Father? Perhaps Yahweh is Jesus! If so, how can you prove it? Is there scripture to do so? If you don’t know - yes, there is such scripture, but it is from the Hebrew and not the Greek. What about the Wife of Yahweh - Israel, which Scripture plainly teaches, is Yahweh's wife. Does the Bride have preeminence over the bride or does the wife enjoy first place. Should the bride take advice and training from the wife? In the economy of a father, mother, and daughter what is the line of Scriptural authority? The Father (Yahweh) the wife (Israel) and then the daughter (Christianity-Messianity). Unfortunately, the church today is like our earthly children. They don’t need advice and training from their elder and go their on way, usually to disaster.

The first word of verse 16 connects this passage with vs.8-15 about being deceived into following human tradition. Vs. 16-23 demonstrates how such deception works. Also remember we are not talking about Yahweh's Torah, but man's perversion of it. Here it seems we are not talking about Jewish Judaizers who insisted on trivia points of oral law, but Gentiles like those in Corinth who insisted on putting themselves under legalistic perversions of the Torah.

Let me give you an example from Judaism. In the Torah, it says we are not to boil the kid in its mother’s milk. That is to teach us compassion. Legalists have taken this to mean we are not to mix milk products with meat products. Therefore, a cheeseburger is forbidden. This is an arbitrary law that is not biblically defensible from Yahweh's Torah. The Colossians were fighting this same tendency by some of its members, in this case Gentiles. For example, remember when the Catholic Church would not let its members eat meat on Fridays. There was no biblical basis for such a law, but nevertheless it was the law and followed contrary to Yahweh's Torah. The Catholic Church position was that their Canon law superceded Yahweh's Torah. This was what was happening here. It had nothing to do with Yahweh's Torah. The church today has Christmas, Easter, Saint's days etc that are honored contrary to Yahweh’s Torah. It is man's proclivity to try to improve on Yahweh's Torah. This is perversion of Torah and in many cases, this legalistic approach carries as much or more weight than Yahweh's Torah according to those that practice it. Yahweh says in Scripture, He abhors anyone who changes His days and festivals, and He has given them for eternity to us if we are His. We are not to tamper with Yahweh's festivals and Sabbaths by overlaying them with our own or changing the time, such as calling Sunday wwhich is the first day of the week, Yahweh's Sabbath, contrary to Torah or changing Passover into Easter and changing the date of observance.

You have to know too that Shaul could not have meant what most Christians want to believe here. That Yahweh's festivals and Sabbaths were done away with. Shaul observed them all, all the days of his life as evidenced in Acts 13:9. If you read the text properly they indeed are a shadow of things to come. At His second advent when He will rule the nations with an iron rod, we all will revert to the First Century Nazarene Judaism style of worship found in the time of Yahshua's first advent. This called out body of Moshiach will truly worship Yahweh Elohim as He has directed in His Torah. A shadow that mirrors the reality.

If you said that Jesus has lifted us up above the standard of God's Torah as far as the Heavens above the earth. If you said Christians cannot base their standard of life upon the Mosaic Law in any way. I would ask you, what standard or standards you are referring to and from whence they came. Whose standards are you following, " Joe Anybody" at the corner store? I would ask you, should you love Yahweh with all your heart, mind, and soul? Should you not commit murder? Should you not give false witness? Should you honor your father and mother? Should you not commit adultery? Should you not steal? Should you not covet? Should you not carry Yahweh's name into disrespect? SHOULD YOU REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY AND KEEP IT HOLY? Yahweh's Torah cannot be picked over and chosen. Or are you a moral relativist, who Christians decry and condemn in others but in essence are themselves, because they pick and choose, which of Yahweh's laws they will follow.

Yahweh's law or Torah should be translated as Yahweh's instructions. Now, see how blasphemous it sounds when you say Yahweh's instructions are dead! If Yahshua is the manifested Torah, (Word-law-instructions) then He too is dead and you have no Savior, for if Yahweh's Torah is dead they being one and the same, there is no hope.

Shaul does something very Jewish here. He says he is going to ask one question but asks five. He simply answers his question and that is that the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) is given through trusting what one has heard about the Moshiach, and through legalistic rule following (again not Yahweh's Torah but the perversion of it.) First, we come to Yahweh through trusting and are reconciled to Him by forgiveness of PAST sins. Avraham (v. 6-9) was the archetypical example of one who trusted and was faithful. Legalists tried to show Avraham even followed Oral Torah (rabbinical law) by him obeying the prohibition of mixing milk with meat. Gen. 18:8 disputes this contention for he served his guests butter, milk and dressed calf. Verse 6 sheds light on vs 2 and 3. Avraham trusted Yahweh and was faithful by obeying the revelation he had of Yahweh's commandments and it was credited to his account as legal/forensic righteousness. Trusting and being faithful means being faithful to and subject to Yahweh's Torah as upheld by Moshiach. The key to this paragraph is sorting out what the word nomos means. Either Yahweh's Torah or when it means legalistic perversion of it as previously discussed. If Christians fail to "rightly divide the word of truth" (2 Tim 2:15 KJV) and misrepresent Shaul's word, they foster anti-Semitism and lead believers astray.

There are four false views Christians have regarding the Torah.

1. According to v. 10 since the Jewish people depend on Torah, but by assumption, no one is capable of doing everything written in it, the entire Jewish people live under God's curse.

2. According to v. 11, by trying to obey Torah, Jews are condemned to the impossibility of being considered righteous by God.

3. According to v. 11b-12, the Torah itself is defective, because it is not based on trust, but on legalism, on "doing these things", as proved by quoting one of the Torah's own verses, (Logically this impugns Yahweh Himself; but anti-Semitic ill-logic arrives at different consequences; that if Jews obey a defective Torah, then Jews must be defective.

4. Finally, according to v. 13a, Jews are cursed already just by having to live under Torah.

To hold to even one of these is blatant sin.

Most people do not read the Greek text of the NT and are propelled in the direction of anti-Semitic conclusions by the translations generally available, which in turn are influenced by the conscious or unconscious theological presuppositions of their translators. Therefore, it is important to read verse by verse with a lexicon and theological word study of the Greek texts and not the translations.

In verse 10 Shaul is arguing as follows: Everyone-both legalists and those who trust will agree that Yahweh's Torah requires obedience to all its commands. Looking at it from another angle Yahweh does not gloss over sin. Shaul proves this by quoting a verse from Torah itself, Deuteronomy 27:26. He is saying that Torah anticipates that man will fall short of complete obedience and go out of fellowship with Yahweh. Moreover, it states what those that do, must do in order to restore fellowship. They must repent, and sometimes they must bring a prescribed sacrifice.

Shaul proves not that the Torah can't be obeyed perfectly, but that legalists in particular, merely by being legalists, violate at least one of the Torah's commands; and therefore, on the basis of Deu. 27:26 and other verses cited, they (1) do not attain life (2) are not righteous, and (3) come under a curse.

Vs. 2 & 3 are taken out of context. The subject of this chapter is not a diatribe against living Torah.

Romans 14.

14:1 to 15:6, Among believers there are two groups, those with "weak trust" and those with strong trust." Christians on the basis of this, sometimes ask Messianic Jews why they observe Torah or Yahweh's festivals and are criticized as having "weak faith." However, the specifics of this chapter are clearly directed to a Gentile culture and not to a Jewish one. Therefore, the premise that it addresses Jewish tradition is wrong. The Roman assemblies were made up predominantly of Gentiles and few if any Jews. It does not teach that following Jewish practices is a sign of "weak" faith, rather it exhorts believers Jewish or Gentile whose trust is strong, not to look down on those whose trust, they consider "weak." Precisely the opposite of the behavior described above. The passage also teaches that the weak should not pass judgment on the strong for failing to observe practices the "weak" consider important.

The problem in the passage does not come from the behavior it teaches, but from identifying precisely who are the strong and the weak, and drawing out the implications. There are four possibilities but we will only list the correct one.

The weak are believers, Jews or ingrafted Gentiles who have not yet grown sufficiently in their trust to have given up attachments to various ascetic practices and calendar observances. Shaul is not here talking about Yahweh's Torah, observances of times and seasons, etc. but pagan observances that had carried on into the "Christian" assemblies. I've given you some modern examples of this already and such examples of the practices that can be obtained from secular works of that time. Their tie to these activities is not supported by a rational ideology. Rather, it is irrational and emotional linked to psychological needs, social pressure or superstition, or it may simply be a matter of habit. Examples of this are replacing G-d's Sabbath with Sunday worship. I agree we should treat every day as Shabbat, but G-d specifically in Genesis before there was even a Jew and later in the Wilderness instructed us to set aside Shabbat (Friday at Sundown to Saturday at sundown as His Shabbat) as a particular sign that we are His. Most people go to church on Sunday because it has always been done that way as far as they know. This is a habit and not in subjection to G-d's word. Weak believers observe Christmas and Easter because of habit or tradition and not because it is biblical. They do not keep the dietary laws because it is inconvenient or interferes with their desire for certain foods that medically are proven harmful. Nevertheless, the spiritual application to dietary laws is that if we can refuse that which tempts the palate we can refuse the evil that comes our way. Weak believers hold themselves aloft from others and from teaching that would edify them and open up vistas of Yahweh's word and knowledge of Yahshua from Yahweh's Torah. Weak believers are comfortable in their ignorance and do not follow Yahweh's command to seek Him diligently, nor divide the Word of Yahweh rightly. Weak believers are those that do not grow in discipleship. Hebrews says it elegantly:

Now the last thing: Yahshua's Seven-Fold (Spiritual Perfection) of the definition of a True Believer found in His words in the Book of Revelation. It is two fold trust and obedience to Torah. Trust in the Living Torah and Obedience to the Written Torah.

1. To guard the commands (Torah) of Yahweh

We read this in:

(1) Rev. 12:17

(3) Rev. 15:2-3 Where the overcomers are described as those who sing the song of Moshe (Torah teachings) and the song of the Lamb (grace).