The Righteousness of the Law Fulfilled in us

Romans 8:3-4  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; so that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard believers say, “Oh, I’m not under the law, but under grace!” Aside from the matter that Romans 6:14 is being taken out of context when it’s used this way – the “law” referred to here is not specifically the law of Moses, but rather the law of sin & death which came through Adam; see my explanation here — does that mean we are to disregard the law? I think, somewhat unfortunately, that too many believers come to that conclusion, whether they realize it or not. They similarly take another verse, Romans 10:4  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes, to reinforce the notion that Christ somehow did away with the law. Never mind that He himself said that he came to do no such thing. And please take no notice of the fact that the word “end” in this verse, or “fulfill” in Matthew 5:17 mean not to terminate but to consummate. Is a marriage terminated because it’s consummated? Of course not!

So then what are we to do with the law? Even if we were to keep it, that would not make us righteous, so what’s the point?

I think we’re missing the point entirely when we say things like that. The law was given so that we can know right from wrong. Or more importantly, from the viewpoint of restoring the love relationship between us and our Creator — which is what our salvation is really all about — the law was given so that we would know what our Lover likes and dislikes, loves and hates, accepts or rejects.

This is basic salvation 101 to say that we all needed Jesus to come to take away our sin, since we were completely incapable of doing so ourselves. You won’t find many Christians arguing that point. But what we do seem to miss a great deal of the time is that this isn’t just so we can be forgiven, but so we can have an opportunity to come into communion with a holy God. God cannot have communion was ungodliness. And we were incapable of godliness until Jesus came and removed the barrier. And now that the barrier is removed, we have to know what constitutes godliness in order to live in it. And there’s where we stumble. We tend at this point to wander off into some nebulous – or worse, religious — idea of what that is. Most of us have a pretty good idea of the basics — the nine* commandments are a good starting point – but most of us also carry a sense around with us that that’s not all there is.

And we’re right. That isn’t all there is. He wrote us a big, thick Book, and we ought to read it to discover what He wants, what He likes, and what He hates. And, if we’re honest, we’ll admit that we haven’t exactly done that either. Even if we are careful to do the basics, we always feel like there’s something missing. But – thanks be to God – He doesn’t leave us there, any more than He leaves us in utter sin. After we come through the Door, Jesus, into the sheep pen, the Shepherd begins to raise us up into what He wants us to be, day by day. But we lose track of what He’s doing when we don’t go back to the Book He wrote to see what’s next. And we miss most of the Book when we throw out huge chunks of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy because we think that’s just “the law of Moses.” Which brings me back to the title of this post: if we walk day by day in the way God leads us, we can fulfill all of His desire. Not just the basics, but the “righteousness which is of the law” — the whole enchilada.

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* I know; it’s supposed to be ten commandments, but most of Christianity (as far as I can tell) kind of skips # 4: remember the seventh day to keep it holy, so that leaves nine. Most of us are OK, though, with thou shalt not kill, commit adultery, steal, etc.

Where Talmud & New Testament Intersect

If it sounds surprising to you that there is any place where the Christian New Testament* and the Jewish Talmud are on the same page, so to speak, it did to me at first, too. But now, the more I study, the more I discover there are a great many places where both the Jewish sages and the Christian writers appear to be saying the same things, and often from a similar perspective.

My first exposure to this phenomenon was through Dr. A. Cohen’s Everyman’s Talmud, E.P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1949. Dr. Cohen writes from an educated Conservative Jewish perspective, not from a Christian or Messianic Jewish one. So when I saw the sayings of Jesus reflected over and over again in rabbinical parables and precepts, I began to realize that there was a lot more in common between the two supposedly divergent streams of teaching than I had previously considered or ever heard. And I got some pretty strange looks whenever I mentioned it to my fellow Christian believers.

And I’m not just talking here about the well-known fact that many different cultures have some form or another of “the golden rule.” That’s just basic human social sense. The correspondence between Gospel precepts and parables and their Talmudic counterparts are more detailed, and sometimes very much out of synch with common social wisdom. You may have read Matthew 5:28, “I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” but you may not have read this in the Talmud: "He that looks upon a woman’s heel,  is as if he looked upon her belly:  and he that looks upon her belly,  is as if he lay with her."

Or Luke 24:5  “And as they were afraid, and bowed their faces down to the earth, they said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead?” is very much like this rabbinical quote found in Cohen: “a person who lost his son went to inquire for him in a cemetery …is it the way to inquire for the dead among the living or the dead? Surely it is always the practice of the living to attend to the needs of the dead, not vice versa!”

Luke 8:18,  “Therefore be careful how you hear. For whoever has, to him shall be given; and whoever has not, from him shall be taken even that which he seems to have,”  is not much different from this: “God’s measure is not like the measure of flesh and blood.  The measure of flesh and blood is this:  ‘An empty vessel is receptive,  but a full one can take in no more.  But God’s measure is this,  The full vessel is receptive of more,  but the empty vessel receives nothing;  according as it is said,  If hearing thou wilt hear;  that is,  If thou hearest thou shalt hear;  if thou dost not hear,  thou shalt not hear.”

Those are just a few instances of what I began to run into. I started bookmarking them as I came to them, but the book began filling with slips of paper citing Gospel verses where they matched the Talmudic reading under discussion. Too much to be mere coincidence. This got me to wondering if perhaps the sages, since they historically followed Jesus and the apostles, were maybe just copy-catting, but then I considered that it seemed more likely that both Jesus and the sages followed the same stream, which ultimately comes from the same source: the Torah.

Which makes complete sense, if we dare allow ourselves to go there in our minds. Another one of the books I mention on my Resources page lays it all out rather clearly: that Jesus was (and therefore still is) a Jewish Rabbi of the first order, in love with the Torah, perfectly diligent to keep every one of its precepts and statutes and judgments with all of his heart and soul and strength. Like no other, before or since. Yet isn’t it his desire for us that we follow his example?

So began a delightful journey over the past several months, looking into contemporary Jewish theological literature and Biblical commentary, not necessarily digging for parallels and correspondences, but keeping an eye out for them, all the while drinking in the richness of the wisdom of men who had been studying the Scriptures for hundreds of years before Martin Luther was even a twinkle in Daddy Luther’s eye.

I’ve become especially fond of the Stone Editions of the Pentateuch (Chumash) and Hebrew Scriptures (Tanach) from Artscroll Mesorah. I began keeping a handwritten journal of choice nuggets as I came across them, and even that is now filling up so much as to be hard to keep track of. I’ve shared a few of these things with friends, and I still get some odd looks, but not as many, and not quite so odd. So I’m going to try to follow along here, as much as is practical. Partly so I can come here myself and use the web browser ‘find’ function to look up something I’d noted earlier, and partly to share. If no one else comes here, that’s OK; I’ll still find this method useful for my own purposes. But if anyone does wander this way, maybe they’ll be blessed, or at least piqued to poke around the powerful principles which tend to pile up where the Talmud and New Testament meet.

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(*Just to mention it here, one of the important principles I learned in Gruber’s book Copernicus and the Jews – see my Resources page – is that the use of the term New Testament to refer to the Scriptures written after the close of the Hebrew canon is, if you’ll pardon my saying, completely unscriptural. Gruber thoroughly explains this in his chapter Dr. Frankenstein’s Neighborhood Bible Club. I’d love to spend some time with you quoting and summarizing, but I’ll restrain myself here, and bow to common usage, in order to be understood without having to go over the matter every time I post. A similar deference I’ll make is with respect to the use of the term “Christian.” Gruber also spends a chapter on this, but simply put, it’s not at all clear from “New Testament” Scripture that the early disciples ever thought of themselves by that term, and certainly not primarily. Interesting stuff, really, once you get into it, but not necessary at this point. Also please note my use of the term Talmud is in the most general sense. I refer the interested reader to Dr. Cohen’s book for a very good explanation of what that entails.)

You can’t become righteous by trying to become righteous

One of the things Rabbi Yeshua said to His talmidim was that they had to be more righteous than those chasidim who were at that time held in the highest regard for their righteousness.

“For I say to you, If your righteousness is not greater than the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never go into the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5:20

Now, most of the time when we read about Yeshua’s comments regarding this bunch, they don’t come off as sounding very righteous, but I believe that in this instance (and in some others) He was not speaking of them quite that way. I believe that at this point he was referring to the highest attainable standard.

But they had to do better than that.

He was trying to get them to understand that the only way to succeed was going to be by the new covenant He had come to ratify with His own blood (in a little while). And because through that new covenant, He would inscribe His very Torah in their hearts, their very being.

But this shall be the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel: After those days, declares YHWH, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Yermeyahu 31:33 [31:32]

Now of course, all you learned theologians out there (you’re still out there, aren’t you?) know that books and books and books have been written on this, and I don’t plan to write a new one.

But I would like to point out that, although Christians are always saying that this is why our covenant is better than their covenant, we don’t seem to be any better at walking in it. Do we?

But all is not lost. We do need to keep this covenant, and all the Torah of God, before our eyes continually, and endure the exhortations of our elders to not just throw in the towel, saying what’s the use.

Having said all this, I want to insert here an exhortation from an elder named Oswald Chambers, who wrote quite a few piercing admonitions about 100 years ago. (I’ve put a link in my blogroll to a source where you can read him.)

In his entry for July 24, in his devotional My Utmost for His Highest, he wrote:

His Nature and Our Motives

The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in his motives, having been made good by the supernatural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to place within anyone who would let Him a new heredity that would have a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus is saying, “If you are My disciple, you must be right not only in your actions, but also in your motives, your aspirations, and in the deep recesses of the thoughts of your mind.” Your motives must be so pure that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke. Who can stand in the eternal light of God and have nothing for Him to rebuke? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that through His redemption He can place within anyone His own nature and make that person as pure and as simple as a child. The purity that God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is exactly what Jesus has undertaken to do through His redemption.

No one can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations — He gives us His teachings which are truths that can only be interpreted by His nature which He places within us. The great wonder of Jesus Christ’s salvation is that He changes our heredity. He does not change human nature — He changes its source, and thereby its motives as well.

Perfection

That’s a big word. And it’s talked about a lot in Christianity, since it’s a major topic in the Bible. But most of the time, you hear the great preachers saying it doesn’t really mean that.

So then – it means what? Some say “maturity.” Some say “completion.” Some say “equipping.” What the!?! You can take all the Greek you want & turn it inside out & backwards, but when Messiah himself defines it as simply being perfect as the Father is perfect, you just can’t wriggle out of it.

(Yeshua sat down with his talmidim and had a nice, long talk with them, outlining his requirements for their behavior. His talmid Matityahu recorded it in his book of the gospel – see the end of chapter 5.)

I’ve been putting off this post for a long time, trying to think of some wonderfully erudite way of expressing this, but then I realized it’s really just as simple as Yeshua said it.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of learned scholars saying that parts of the Bible don’t mean what they say, simply because they don’t want to deal with it. Accepting what the Bible says entails a great deal of personal responsibility, and if you don’t like that – too late!

And then the other comeback is something like, “Well, look at you – you’re not perfect.” Yes, I am not, but that doesn’t excuse either one of us, does it?

Now, if you will please excuse me while I go and deal with it.

Inside out for Jesus

Don’t even think that I came to do away with the Law and the Prophets. I did not come to do away with them, but to fulfill.

What I hear a lot of the time from well-meaning Christians about that verse in Matthew is that Jesus fulfilled Torah (which is true, although they flinch a little when you say “Torah” rather than “the law”), but then they seem to sidetrack that by saying, in effect, that because he fulfilled the law, we now don’t have to, or something like that. He did it, so it’s taken care of, and we can move on to the next thing, such as being good Christians, whatever they think that means. Ask three different Christians what that means, and you’ll get at least five different answers. But — hello! — Jesus is telling us in this whole chapter what it takes to be “good Christians;” what constitutes being the salt and light. And it’s keeping every “jot and tittle” of the law.

Heaven and earth may disappear. But I promise you that not even a period or comma will ever disappear from the Law. Everything written in it must happen. If you reject even the least important command in the Law and teach others to do the same, you will be the least important person in the kingdom of heaven. But if you obey and teach others its commands, you will have an important place in the kingdom. You must obey God’s commands better than the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law obey them. If you don’t, I promise you that you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. [Olam Haba]

He then goes on to give a few more details about what it means to keep the mitzvot better than the most religious people around – and it all boils down to what’s going on in the heart. He has a lot to say in several places about doing the commandments by starting from the inside out – that it just plain doesn’t work when you try to do it any other way.

But, how can we do that, even? Can a leopard change its spots? Aren’t we like, bad inside, and can’t change that?

Well, yes we are, until we submit to God’s purpose in changing us, completely, on the inside, so that we can then be changed progressively from the inside out. This is what being “born again” means. It’s not a catchy phrase meaning “now I’m a Christian.” It’s a whole new, brand new start in life.

The prophet Ezekiel wrote “And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you: I will take away the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you, causing you to be guided by my rules, and you will keep my commandments and do them.”

Now, notice how many times God says “I will” in that verse. “I will… I will… I will.” Folks, we can’t do it, but he will. The apostle Paul gets a bad rap in a lot of places, but this holds true, if you can grasp it: “God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him.”

But, there’s an “if” here, as there nearly always is. We have to submit to God’s will in this, and he says in the verse right before that, “at the name of Jesus everyone will bow down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And to the glory of God the Father everyone will openly agree, ‘Jesus Christ is Lord!‘”

This is to do the work of God: to have faith in him whom God has sent.

Or as the prophet Isaiah said: “I invite the whole world to turn to me and be saved. I alone am God! No others are real. I have made a solemn promise, one that won’t be broken: Everyone will bow down and worship me. They will admit that I alone can bring about justice. Everyone who is angry with me will be terribly ashamed and will turn to me. I, the LORD, will give victory and great honor to the people of Israel.”

God says, “I invite.” He doesn’t force us. I’m not here, and neither is he, to twist your arm into believing that Jesus Christ, Mashiach Yeshua ha-Natzeri, is Hashem revealed in human form. It’s your choice, my friend, whether to accept this, or not.

Jesus said, “What can I compare God’s kingdom with?”

“…It is like what happens when a woman mixes yeast into three batches of flour. Finally, all the dough rises.”

Jesus taught the Jewish people about the kingdom of God, but much of it was hidden in the form of parables. There are many things regarding the kingdom of God that are hard to grasp for the average Joe. So then, there are also many different understandings of what it’s all about.

I was writing last time about the kingdom of God in us being an amazing vertical relationship. (“In us” — now there’s a mouthful right there!) It’s for His own good pleasure, and also for our benefit. “Stop being afraid, little flock, because your Father is delighted to give to you the kingdom.”

But at the same time God is not a pushover. He wants His will His way. Or as I was saying, complete submission to the Creator brings fullness of joy. I’m talking about living and dwelling in God, being saturated with His power and having His life infused in and through us, and radiating out from us.

Something totally different from the things in the past that we call religion.

There are a few basic requirements, though, starting with a sticky little thing called “repentance.” All that means is changing your mind about everything, in such a way that it changes everything you do. That’s all. Not much. Just everything.

But at this point, I’m getting into what is commonly and rightly known as “the gospel of salvation.” How we can be released from the power of sin and of darkness, so that we can then be transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God. How we can have forgiveness of sins, and then a whole new life, through the shed blood of Jesus, God’s own sacrificial lamb.

There are plenty of places where you can hear this. However my purpose here was to write about how the kingdom of God is, in an outwardly visible way, the kingdom — the rightful rule — of Jesus, Son of David, Yeshua ben David. And how this is completely tied up with the restoration of the people of Israel, the descendants of Jacob the grandson of Abraham, to their rightful preeminence in the affairs of man. And how all we goyim better sit up and pay attention to what is even now happening in Israel, and in the lives of Jews across the globe. How all along, we goyim have been the bottom of that two man pole, and we should begin to recognize that, and also be okay with it.

And, if you’ve heard of something called “the rapture,” you can forget all about that, too. I’ll let that sink in a little before I say some more. In the meanwhile, is there anything you’d like to say?