Kingdom Ready

Introduction

The first five books of the Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy – are collectively known as the Torah. The Hebrew word “Torah” is usually translated as “Law”; but other valid translations are “Teaching” and “Instruction”.

Some of the information in the Torah deals with the rules and regulations that God gave to Moses – i.e., the so-called “Mosaic law”. According to the traditional Jewish interpretation of the Torah, there are a total of 613 rules and regulations, in the entire body of the Mosaic law.

By Charles Hunting 

This article was originally published in the August 2000 issue of Focus on the Kingdom.

By Charles Hunting 

This article was originally published in the July 2000 issue of Focus on the Kingdom.  It was recently posted on the Focus on the Kingdom blog.  It is part one of a two-part series.

One of the doctrinal issues that I have “wrestled” with – over and over again – during the years is the question of: “Do Christians need to follow the Mosaic law at all?” In other words, is it necessary for Christians to follow the rules and regulations listed by Moses – i.e., Sabbath observance, Kosher dietary laws, festivals, etc?

The primary reason why it has been so difficult for me to “make up my mind” on this issue is because Scripture appears to contradict itself on this issue. In other words, in some cases, Scripture seems to clearly state that Christians do not have to follow the Mosaic law – but in other cases, Scripture seems to explicitly state that the Mosaic law is still in effect!

There is now a schedule for new blog posts, with a different writer each day of the week.  From this point on I will be posting once a week, on Mondays.  Today I will finish the article I started, and continue with another one next week. (Please note I added another passage of Scripture to Part 1 which I had missed before.)

We have seen that the Kingdom of God is primarily referring to the reign of Messiah on earth in the age to come, and that there is an interim period of anticipation and preparation beforehand. During this time we can enter into a covenant with God. Jesus is called the mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 12:24) and of the New Testament (Hebrews 9:15). Both English words, “covenant” and “testament,” mean the same thing and are translated from the same Greek word, diatheke. A covenant is an agreement made between two parties.

the following email was sent to me a couple of weeks ago by Patrick Navas, author of Divine Truth or Human Tradition? and recent guest on Truth Matters, in which he discussed the issue of justification by faith alone. I thought his way of harmonizing Paul and James was helpful.

Hello Everyone,

Recently I had an email discussion with an evangelical friend on the subject of the doctrine of “justification by faith alone.” Can you read my short response to him and offer some feedback from your perspective?

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This is the original question to my friend:

The second part of the Bible is commonly known as the New Testament.  This is a phrase that means the same thing as “New Covenant” in reference to the New Covenant that Jesus introduced and ratified with his blood.  His disciples, who were Jewish, were surprised and awed at the idea that Gentiles would be able to partake of God’s promises to Abraham.  But there were some Jewish Christians who insisted that Gentiles needed to keep the Law of Moses to be saved.  Paul expounded in great detail about this in his epistles, declaring that the New Covenant which Jesus made has superseded the Old Covenant of the Mosaic Law which had been only a temporary measure.