We ‘enlightened’ church goers and believers in Yahshua don’t need to read, teach, or keep all those laws do we? Of course we do! Not in our flesh, as even the Israelites who had Moses with them found them too difficult to keep, but we now have a greater One, the holy Spirit to empower us, and the indwelling of the Father and Son to strengthen us. Oh yes, we have a greater advantage than they. 'To whom much is given, much is expected' we read. This is most poignant within this context.
While all the fullness of a walk of sanctification is available through Calvary, once we are delivered from our sins, and we acknowledge Him as our Saviour, Messiah, Redeemer, then there is more, oh, so much more for us to walk in, explore and enjoy. Let us not confuse the Jewish traditions taught by the Pharisees and later the Rabbinic scholars with what is expected of us in Yahweh's Law.
We love the faithful Rabbi's who have gone before us. We know we owe so very much to them. We understand they are the ‘apple of His eye’ the faithful keepers of Torah (the Law, the Scriptures as we see them). The ones who kept the Sabbath sacred, who taught and still teach us many things, but…….. in their great, sacrificial effort (and so many thousands paid for this with their lives…) to keep the Law sacred, they put a great hedge of teachings around it called the Oral Law. These 'extra' laws became burdensome, and it was to those who taught these extras to whom Yahshua spoke when He talked about burdening the people with 'things too heavy to bear.' In Matthew 23:1-8 and Luke 11:46 we read "...The scribes and the Pharisees....they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders...call no man 'Rabbi'..." These verses are most enlightening, please read them for yourself. These religious leaders took away from the true Law given through Moses by adding others,which became heavy weights for the people to bear. One such law speaks of 'A Sabbath day's journey' restricting travel. There is no such law designating distance in Moses. Many of these laws, or similar ones, (reviewed and changed over the centuries by various rabbis) are in existence today, and are included in the now much expanded teachings of the: Halachot, Takanot, Ma’asim and Minhagim.

This hedge of teachings, called the oral law, kept them from breaking the commandments, and to keep the law from being damaged. But it has, it is sad to say, sometimes become a stumbling block, so that people have thought more of the hedge than the precious thing within it, the Law of YHWH, the Torah itself. Yahshua had a problem with this. He was quite scathing in His comments regarding these laws of men. He criticised those teaching this hedge of laws, and said that they had lost sight of the actual truth and were teaching others their laws rather than Moses’ law, the law that Yahshua came to establish. He said (and he was quoting Isaiah) 'Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandments of YHWH, ye hold the tradition of men, the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. Full well you reject the commandment of YHWH, that you may keep your own tradition…' Mark 7:7-8. The Pharisees did not understand Yahshua and watched him closely, and resented the things He said and did. Yahshua’s disciples followed His teachings, and later, Paul's. Paul spoke and taught in Aramaic, and his letters were translated into Greek later. The word 'law' many times referred not to Mosaic law, but the oral law, the law written about in Galatians, which was in all probability the oral law, the one criticised by Yahshua, taught by the Pharisees. How easy it is for us to say "We are no longer under the law, but under grace" from Romans 6:14, thus freeing ourselves from the obligation of keeping the Law of Yahweh which is within Torah.
Putting all thoughts of the Mosaic Law out of our minds, we superficially believe we are 'free from the law' in some mysterious way, deceiving ourselves as we in fact continue in sin. We fail to realise that when we forget to give something back, we are stealing, and when we feel jealous of someone or when we desire something strongly it could be envy, or when we ignore our parents or work on Saturdays we could be breaking the true law, the law of Yahweh! How about the laws on restitution? Did you replace that item you broke or damaged? Love your neighbour as yourself, does it still not apply to us? Do we consider ourselves 'above' making restitution as Torah teaches? Torah, or rather the Old Testament scriptures qualify the commandments taught to us by Yahshua. He went out of His way to remind us of them! 'We are no longer under the law but under grace' Romans 6:14 is only true within its context! We are only 'free from the law' in as much as we should be living it, from our hearts full of love for the Almighty! Once we have the life of Messiah within us, we, both Jew and those from the nations in Messiah are able to conform to all that the law requires, through the holy Spirit. (“Not the hearers of the law are just before YHWH, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when those believers from the nations, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law…” Romans 2:13-14)
This means that we should spend time reading and studying what the law requires, and as the holy Spirit illuminates and emphasises the true meaning, walk in that revelation. This brings about Sanctification.

When Paul says in Galatians, chapter 1v.14 ‘…zealous of the Traditions of my fathers…’ Here Paul is referring to the oral law.
Originally Paul taught and spoke in Aramaic and not Greek. You can see this from many references in Acts which mention his speaking in Hebrew, not Greek. See 21:40 and 22:2. His letters were probably later translated into Greek, and because of the very nature of the differences in vocabulary, and the meaning of words have distorted the text somewhat.

Some ‘favourite’ scriptures which believers from the nations quote in order to ignore the old testament requirements are:
1. Galatians 3:13 reads, 'But Messiah has redeemed us from the curse of the law, by becoming accursed for us, for it is written; “cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree'.
So many of us invalidate the law by quoting this scripture in a wholly misguided way.
Yahshua came to remove the curse which we were under for the breaking of the law, called sin. He is talking about the curses included in the law for not obeying it (as in Deut. 27). Not talking about the law itself. He never gave mankind a curse to follow! Yahshua took our curse, because He was the One who hung ‘on a tree’ taking our punishment, the curse, upon Himself.

2.Galatians 4:10 'Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.' This gives the average ‘christian’ the ‘proof’ he thinks he has found that means he does not have to observe the Biblical Feasts as found in Leviticus 23. (Why do people seek for reasons not to keep His laws? This is the 'enmity' spoken of in Ephesians 2 which is against the Law and Commandments.) Thank YHWH He is a merciful Elohim (God).
This scripture regarding the times and days being observed is referring to Rabbinic teachings added to the law to make it ‘water-tight’ and safe, the hedge to which I referred earlier.
Paul was essentially talking to people who still insisted in following these man-made laws even to the extent of invalidating the true Yahweh-given Torah, a truth to which Yahshua often alluded to when He said, ‘you follow the commandments of men’.
As we are mentioning Galatians 4, if you read this closely, from verse 19 to verse 31 Paul is discussing the difference between following the fleshly rules and regulations of men (i.e. the hedge of Rabbinic doctrines and rules) and the freedom of serving the spiritual laws of YHWH. He says the difference can be likened to the self effort of Abraham producing his son Ishmael through Hagar before waiting for the child of the promise, the child YHWH promised him through his wife, Sarah. The works of the flesh being the rules and regulations of the Scribes, Pharisees and Rabbis.

3. Galatians 5:18 'But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.' This is a favourite of the law-less people of the nations who insist on doing their own thing. John 16:13-16 states 'When he the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: …for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it to you.' Yahshua is stating here that the things He taught are simply the things of the Father, i.e. the Tanakh or Old Covenant scriptures. He states that when the holy Spirit comes into our lives, he will lead us into all these truths. We are not, in fact, 'under' the law, but fulfilling it through Yahshua, who, as we read it will place the principles of it in our hearts, it is 'written' on our hearts, as the holy Spirit illuminates the full meaning of it to our spirit and mind, and gives us the power to keep it.

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