HOLINESS
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4 : 8
Is Yeshua a LIAR?
“I am יהוה:: I DO NOT CHANGE” ~אלהים: Malakhi 3:6
“Messiah Yeshua is the same yesterday, today, and forever” ~ Sha’ul: Hebrews 13:8
“Remember His covenant forever, The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac, And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,To Israel for an everlasting covenant” ~ David: 1 Chron 16:15-17
“For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one yod or one tittle will by no means pass from the Torah till all is fulfilled” ~ Yeshua: Matthew 5:18
“Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” ~ Yeshua: Matthew 5:19
What does it mean to be Holy?
Only אלהים [Elohim] can make a thing holy. Only יהוה is Holy. But we’re commanded in His Word to BE holy, even as He is holy. How do we do that? What does that mean? Our renewed covenant tells us that it is the Word of G-d and prayer that consecrates a thing. Holy means: separated, set apart for a particular purpose, sanctified, consecrated. All of these words have similar connotations. But, יהוה Yeshua pointed it out aptly: “Sanctify them by Your Truth:: Your WORD IS TRUTH”.
Look at a typical Jewish blessing/prayer: “Blessed are you, O יהוה our אלהים [Elohim], King of the Universe, who has set us apart by His commandments, and has commanded us concerning….”
The only thing that makes anything or anyone holy is NOT the merit of the thing, but of the One who sanctifies. יהוה makes us holy through His word. So, what is OUR role in it? Do we have a part to play? ABSOLUTELY, or Yeshua would not have said “[You] be holy even as I am holy”. Our role in it is hearing the command, and subjecting ourselves to it. Our faith in the blood of Messiah JUSTIFIES us, but does it sanctify us? Initially yes, but it is our responsibility to remain sanctified, and that comes ONLY through a process of our obedience, and to the measure that we apply our faith to His Word. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of אלהים .” James, Yeshua’s brother, tells us that DOING the word verifies outwardly the faith that we’ve confessed inwardly. And the purpose of it is to show ourselves faithful, to אלהים , that He may be glorified in this earth. So, it is obedience to His commands that sanctifies us, or makes us Holy, and glorifies יהוה through Messiah Yeshua. When we obey the commands through His power, acknowledging our justification (righteousness) in Him, and the free gift of His grace, we receive His forgiveness given AHEAD of time for our shortcomings in the Torah.
Holiness and righteousness [justification] are two different things: righteousness is a judicial term, meaning that one is approved/accepted by אלהים . Holy means separated for a particular purpose; sanctified, dedicated. Our righteousness can ONLY be attained through faith in the Messiah (Galatians); but our holiness is a function of our obedience to Him, through His Word (John 17:17, 1 John 2:3-5). We separate ourselves from the world by living His Word in dedication.
The Bible has ONE MESSAGE. If you read a single verse, by itself it might SEEM to say something, but if it doesn’t fit the one message, there’s a problem. Whether through deliberate attempts to dupe people or through the innocent acceptance of something some respectable person taught them, many today misuse scripture. Let’s consider what יהוה told Yehoshua: “Lo yamush”; Yehoshua did not depart from the tent of Moshe, and יהוה reminded him not to depart from Torah, “to the right or to the left”. Lo Yamush. To the right or to the left means “do not add to, nor take away”, and, “do the positive commands, and adhere to the negative commands”.
Many who say they believe in Messiah use Romans to “justify” their ignoring even the simplest of the commands of אלהים . Romans was written to Jewish AND Gentile believers in Rome. How did that congregation get there? There were Gentile AND Jewish followers of Judaism in Jerusalem during Shavuot in Acts chapter two. The letter to the Romans was written BEFORE any apostles had been there! Some of those pilgrims at Shavuot (Pentecost) believed in Messiah and went back to their Roman synagogue believing and preaching Messiah.
The issue in Rome seemed to be similar to the issue in Galatia: circumcision or uncircumcision? Can one be ‘justified’ without ‘circumcision’? Paul’s simple answer was YES. BUT, was he telling Jews and Gentiles that they were free from Torah? The simple answer is NO. Romans 3:31 :: “Do we then make void the Torah through faith? אלהים FORBID! Yes! We ESTABLISH IT”.
Romans 7 seems to some to say that they are ‘free from the Torah’. But, they do not STUDY to see what “law” it is from which they’re supposed to be freed. From WHAT did Yeshua die to set us free? From the TORAH אלהים Remember, Yeshua IS TORAH! Do we really want to be free from Him?
The first three verses of chapter seven speak about being free from a single Torah command: the “law” of marriage. Sha’ul is using this single command as an example, to form an analogy, not as a representative of the whole Torah. The next few verses explain that before we realize the resurrection of Messiah, we were “married” to someone else, spiritually. To whom? SIN! When we die with Messiah, we’re raised again into His Torah and life! Verse 5 tells us that it is the ‘sinful passions’ in our flesh that drove us, and made us produce fruit unto death, or “dead fruit”. THAT’s WHAT WE DIE TO! Verse 7 holds a key statement: “Is the Torah sin? אלהים FORBID!” Verse eight explains that it is SIN that twisted the Torah and wrought in me all manner of sin. Consider Eve, who was guilty of adding to Torah when she was tempted. She didn’t obey, but added to the commandment, which helped “SIN”, (satan, the author of all lies) take her off the straight and narrow. Verse 10 in Romans 7 ‘seems’ to say that the Torah killed me…but 11 says that SIN used the Torah to kill me! Sin perverts and subverts the Torah of אלהים ! Verse 12 explains that the Torah is Holy, Just, and GOOD! SIN used the Torah, the commandment, to kill me! To show sin (satan’s tool) to be utterly evil. The breaking of one Commandment of אלהים is sufficient to slay.
Verse fourteen explains that the Torah is of the RUAKH. Remember, verse 5 said we are ‘of the flesh’; fourteen echoes that thought, and calls me ‘carnal’. 15 and 16 say simply that I want to obey the Torah, but I can’t, and when I try to , I do opposite of it. This is ‘me’ when I’m “in the flesh”…remember, the Torah is RUAKH! In my flesh, I cannot keep the Torah! That’s a fact. Now, verse 17 says, it’s not me that sins, but sin in me. 18 explains that “I” want to do good, but since I am “sold under sin (v 14) and there’s nothing good in me, I cannot perform the goodness of the Torah. 20 says, since I want to do good, but can’t, it’s not me sinning, but sin in me. Verse 21 is the key:: there’s ANOTHER “law” or “principle” at work: “when I want to do good, EVIL is present with me”. I DELIGHT IN THE Torah OF אלהים !!!!! After the inward (spiritual) man. Here, Sha’ul (Paul) is telling us that the Torah of אלהים is a delight! Just as Psalm 119 shouts over and over! And that the Spirit of Torah is in His spiritual man: just as יהוה said: “I will write my Torah in their hearts”, when He told us He would renew His covenant! Verse 23 finishes the key thought of the whole chapter and the first part of the book of Romans:: THERE IS ANOTHER ‘law’!!!! The “law/principle” of SIN, the evil inclination, warring against the Torah that is in my mind (having the Torah in my mind, wanting to do good, vs 19)…The law of SIN is burning in my members, and it is THAT “law” from which Messiah sets me free!!!! See verses 24 and 25. “Who shall deliver me from this BODY of death? Messiah Yeshua!!! The Torah (Torah) of the Ruakh of Grace has set me free from the “law” of SIN!!!! He set us free from the impetus to sin! SEE CHAPTER 8 VERSE 2!!! Usually, some will take you to 8:2, without having considered chapter seven, which defines the “law” of sin as the sinful passion in our flesh, NOT the Torah of אלהים : remember, verse 7 said “Is the Torah sin? אלהים FORBID!” Do not DARE call the Torah of אלהים sinful! Through the RUAKH and only through the RUAKH [spirit] can you obey the Torah!!! The Torah is Spiritual, NOT CARNAL like us! And where our flesh fails, GRACE covers that gap! The RUAKH wrote the Torah! And brings it to our remembrance when we’re in Messiah, and keeps us from sinning if we’re submitted to Him. Ya’akov (James) said: SUBMIT therefore to אלהים , and resist the devil and he must flee. How do we submit to אלהים , except by remembering His commands? This is EXACTLY what Yeshua did when tempted. He submitted to אלהים , remembered Torah and spoke it to the enemy, and WON, beating the temptation! (It can be proved in study that Yeshua used the book of Deuteronomy to defeat the enemy).
Now, for some simple logic: If we’re set free from Torah, then we must be free to commit adultery, right? For it is TORAH that says, “Do not commit adultery”. If we’re free from the Torah, then that means we can do whatever we want and Grace covers me. [this is what many teachers teach] This defies all logic: go and steal! Go and kill, go and commit adultery: tell me if you’re free when you do! How then, are we free from the positive commands? Love יהוה your אלהים , love your neighbor, remember the Sabbath (written in stone), keep the festivals.
There is ONE portion of the Torah that has been fulfilled: the first four festivals and the priestly sacrifices. Not that those festivals are irrelevant, but that we commemorate Messiah in them now. In the remaining three festivals, we look forward to His return. And, not that the priesthood is not there, but that Yeshua is now our High Priest: we no longer have to sacrifice a bullock when we fail in the Torah: we ask Yeshua to clean us, to sanctify us ACCORDING TO HIS Torah! Our justification does not excuse us from sin. If we know to do good and do it not, it is sin. Likewise, if we know NOT to do something that is evil, and we do it, it is SIN. But, heaven and earth haven’t passed away yet, best we can tell, so NEITHER HAS THE TORAH!
The Torah has NOT passed. It was NOT nailed to a tree: OUR SIN WAS….Yeshua was nailed to the tree: and Yeshua BECAME A SIN OFFERING for us! (2 Cor 5:21). It is the natural ‘law of SIN’ that we’re set free from: NOT the Torah of אלהים !!!! You have become free from sins, and become SLAVES to righteousness (Romans 6:18)….Righteousness can only be learned through the Torah: 1 John 3:4
Romans, Ephesians, and Galatians were all written for one purpose: to reconcile Jews and Gentiles! NOT TO teach people to ABANDON THE Torah!
Romans 3 clearly explains that if you’re under the Torah as a Jew, you can only obtain righteousness through Messiah: if you’re out from under the Torah as a Gentile, you can only obtain righteousness through Messiah. Galatians explains that Judaizers were trying to tell Gentile believers to be circumcised IN ORDER TO BE JUSTIFIED BEFORE אלהים : Sha’ul wasn’t writing to them to tell them they should not follow the Torah (be holy), but that they should NOT TRY TO BE JUSTIFIED (righteousness) THROUGH IT. He further explains that it is THROUGH THE FAITH OF AVRAHAM that we are saved: Avraham looked forward to the Promise of Messiah. Avraham kept the Torah of אלהים BEFORE IT WAS WRITTEN DOWN! (Gen 26) We look back at the Messiah, and forward to His Return, where He will reign according to Torah! Ephesians explains that there is ONE BODY of Both JEW AND GENTILE believers in the SPIRITUAL JEWISH TEMPLE where the “wall of separation” is torn down. That Body is founded on the foundation of the Apostles (the new testament), and under that, the Prophets (THE Torah!!!! OT) and under that, MESSIAH YESHUA. The Body of Messiah is comprised of Jew and Gentile, who are in obedience to אלהים .
Now, picture what would happen to the building if a portion (Torah) of the middle stone were cut away……
Let’s take a closer look at Ephesians 2:
We were dead in our trespasses [against Torah] and sins. We used to walk according to the principles of this world, in disobedience! Following Satan unwittingly! But, while we were in sin, He quickened us! And He made us sit together with Messiah (the Torah keeper! ) Keep in mind, GRACE is the gift, not faith: check your grammar! Grace DOES NOT come through works. Grace is unmerited favor, given without any act of the recipient except BELIEVING that it is available [that’s the ‘through faith’ part]. Verse nine says GRACE is not of works (remember, we get our righteousness as a free gift, because we believe in the sacrifice of Messiah. But we’re still commanded to be holy! Pay particular attention to verse 10:
For we are His workmanship, created IN MESSIAH YESHUA for GOOD WORKS, that we SHOULD walk in them!!!!!!!
What good works? Following Messiah in Torah! (In I Cor 11:1, Sha’ul tells the Corinthians to keep the Jewish Traditions he taught them!!!)
Let’s prove it. Look at verse 11 and 12: We were once foreigners to the COVENANTS! Of promise. PLURAL! (OLD AND RENEWED!)
But now, we are BROUGHT NEAR [TO THE COVENANTS], brought INTO THE COMMONWEALTH OF ISRAEL by Israel’s Messiah! By His blood. (vs13)He has made Jew and Gentile ONE, tearing down the wall of partition (14)…this is a reference to the wall in the Beit Elohim (house of אלהים ) in Jerusalem past which Gentile believers in יהוה could NOT go, but he’s speaking of the spiritual RULE that kept Gentiles OUT of the Covenants! OUT of communion with יהוה : Their sinfulness and lack of holiness!
Verse 15 is the key verse, with verse 16: Having abolished the ENMITY [of] the Torah of commandments in ordinances, to make two [Jew and Gentile] ONE new man, making peace; And that He might reconcile both [Jew AND Gentile] to אלהים [the Father], having slain the ENMITY thereby:
HE DID NOT SLAY THE Torah: HE DID NOT ABOLISH THE Torah! HE SAID HE WAS NOT COME TO ABOLISH THE Torah. IS Yeshua a LIAR? He ABOLISHED the ENMITY! OUR INFRACTIONS! That which keeps us from אלהים , our SIN is what He slew and what He abolished…NOT HIS WORD! IT SHALL STAND FOREVER!!!!!!
We know your NIVs and other translations leave out the word ENMITY, deliberately, but if you look into the Greek texts, it is undeniably there, and in the King James, it is there. In the King James, they inserted ‘even’ into the text, because mankind is forever trying to get out from under the responsibility to serve אלהים His way…It is clear that He was bringing Jew and Gentile TOGETHER into GOOD WORKS, (obedience to the Torah, through HIS power and not our own!)
How do we obey אלהים without knowing His will? Obey WHAT? Where is His will expressed? What scriptures did Sha’ul and Kefa preach and teach from?
Therefore the Torah is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure [holy], whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free!
In reference to a comment about the Torah being “nailed to the tree”:
There is a common misrepresentation of the scripture in Colossians 2:14 where that thought is perpetuated among Christian teachers – “having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the stake”.
Again, reading this ONE verse appears to say what some think: BUT
On a closer look JUST AT THIS VERSE, you find that the word for “written code” is NOT “nomos”, which is the Greek word that can be used to represent Torah. It is the word “cheirographon”, which simply means ‘handwriting’. Couple that with the word “dogma”, which means ‘decree’ (NOT regulations), and you begin to see what Sha’ul is talking about, especially under the light of Romans 7, which Sha’ul also wrote.
Now, what did Sha’ul mean in THIS verse?: the “handwriting that was against us, and it’s decrees”, means the RECORD of OUR INFRACTIONS AGAINST THE TORAH~! OUR SIN!!! THAT IS INDEED WHAT WAS NAILED TO THE TREE!!!!
Nehemiah 4:5 (concerning the unredeemed NOT having their sins nailed to the stake)
Blotted out means to erase: a record of sin! “Handwriting”!
Psalm 51:1 and 9 – David ASKS יהוה to get rid of his record of sin:
See Jeremiah 17:1
Isaiah 43:25
Isaiah 44:22
See Psalm 149:6-9
There is indeed a record written against sin.
AND, verse nine explains that we will “carry out the judgment” against the wicked. That is the “decree” in Col 2 verse 14 above…
So, the written record of our sin, and the written punishment of it, is nailed to the stake for us who believe! NOT the Torah!
Our Sin, and the record of our infractions, that is what is done away with.
THAT is what was nailed to the tree. It is “blotted out” through the blood of Messiah!
So: “Is the Torah sin? אלהים FORBID!” (Romans 7:7) “For He made Him who knew no sin to be a sin offering for us, that we might become the righteousness of אלהים in Him”. Since HE became our sin offering, it is indeed sin that was nailed to the tree. That we might become the righteousness of אלהים IN HIM! (According to Torah!) (2 Cor 5:21) And you, being dead in your trespasses (Against Torah!) and the uncircumcision of your flesh, (meaning, out from under the Torah!) He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of decrees that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the stake. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Col 2:13-14) Do you honestly think יהוה DISARMED His Torah? He DISARMED SIN! SATAN! NOT HIS Torah!!!! Do you think יהוה “made a spectacle” of His Torah? And did away with it? By what, then will the nations be judged?
Yeshua called Himself the aleph and tav, the first and last. What did He mean? Aleph and Tav are the first and last letter of the aleph-bet. These two letters represent the whole Hebrew alphabet, being “the first and the last”, which is what the Word, Yeshua, called Himself. יהוה indeed meant for us to understand the symbols of the letters! The aleph, at the beginning of a word, has voice: it “carries” the sound of the word. At the end of a word, it is silent: ENDING the word. Likewise, Yeshua vocalized His message from the beginning of His ministry, but at the end, He was silent during His trial before the judges, whom He laid down His life before as a sacrifice for us. He really is the aleph! Whose pictograph is an Ox: one who bears our burdens! He really is the ‘tav’: this is the LAST letter in the alphabet; and, it’s pictograph represented a ‘signature!’ Abba said, “I will write My Name in the Earth there” [Jerusalem]. The ending point of Yeshua’s life, where He spilled His blood and said, “It is finished,” was Elohim claiming the city of Jerusalem as His own, and ‘signing’ the ‘contract/covenant’ between Himself and us, in His own blood. יהוה finished writing His name in the earth (Deut 14) through the death of His Son Messiah Yeshua! He is INDEED the aleph and the tav! These two letters represent the totality of SCRIPTURE!!! Genesis (the beginning) to Revelation (the END)!!
In the beginning, G-d created אֵת the heavens and אֵת the earth.
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ
(Reading Right to Left )
Those are the two letters: aleph on the right, tav on the left. They point out the direct object of a verb: the object to which the action is happening, in this case, the heavens and the earth. As a word, it is pronounced “eth”. We learn from our Jewish brothers that יהוה created the aleph-bet by which the universe was created! EVERYWHERE in Torah, where you see a verb happening to someone or something, you first see Aleph and Tav! Yeshua!
Yes, the meanings of the letters of Torah are meant for US!!! “It is the glory of אלהים to conceal a matter: it is the glory of kings to seek a matter out” !! (Prov. 25:2) We’re kings in His kingdom!
Some rightfully doubt their salvation as a result of looking into the Torah and seeing how imperfect we are! Let’s look into 1 John 2: “And hereby we do KNOW that we KNOW HIM: IF WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS!” If we keep HIS commandments: the word here for commandment in greek is “entole”, and is specifically “a command”, with the emphasis on the giver of the command. In Hebrew it is ‘mitzvah.’ Read the following verse: “He that says ‘I know Him’ and does not keep His commandments is a LIAR, and the truth is not in him!” Oy veh! BUT, “whoever keeps His WORD, in him truly is the love of אלהים perfected: hereby do we KNOW we that we ARE in Him!”
Now, some would say that these commands are ONLY the things that “Jesus” said, and not the commandments of the Bible as a whole. To this we point out: Yokhanan the apostle wrote this letter, who also wrote the gospel of Yokhanan. In the first chapter of that book, he tells us that the “Davar”, the WORD, became flesh. He tells us that by this “Davar”, Word, the world was formed (by aleph and tav). It is this same “Davar” that He tells us to keep! “Whoever keeps His ‘Davar,’ WORD”! in him truly is the love of אלהים perfected”!!! Don’t think for a moment He’s not talking about the totality of Scripture. And, entole, mitzvot, commandments, is specifically speaking of the commands Yeshua kept while here: ALL of them! Every command came through Yeshua!
Grace covers our failure: that’s what 1 Yokhanan 1:5-10 is about. But we’re to exert ourselves to be more holy than we are! Consider the graph below:
Before Yeshua (salvation), we are all COMPLETELY unrighteous (the black downward path toward complete destruction). When He saves us, He puts us on His Way, making us righteous in the sight of אלהים , but wanting us to become holy in the sight of the world: “Let your light ( Davar, Word, is a lamp unto my feet) so shine before MEN, that THEY may see your good deeds (obedience) and glorify your Father in Heaven”.
So, in the eyes of יהוה , we’re completely righteous, but in the eyes of the world, and for the sake of יהוה , we must “press on toward the mark (perfection) of the high calling of אלהים in Messiah Yeshua”, which is holiness, separateness from the world. If we don’t FURTHER obey His commands after salvation, we stagnate, fall asleep, and look NO DIFFERENT than the rest of the world.
This cannot be! WAKE UP, YOU WHO SLEEP, and Messiah will shine upon you!
We at Bat-Tzion have found that much of what we’ve been taught by the institution of religion is false, and is contrary to the commandments of אלהים . We’ve begun the path of rectifying that in our lives, and it is such a blessing to us. Our little congregation is a picture of what Sha’ul (Paul) was TRYING to accomplish in writing many of the epistles: Convince the Jewish believers to embrace the Gentiles in spite of their shortcomings in Torah, trusting in His grace to bring them up to speed, and accepting them ONLY on the basis of their faith in the Messiah, and then convince the Gentiles to rectify their disobedience to Torah! (I Cor 5-6). Nowhere did he dismiss them from it. He encouraged them, as did every apostle, to “Walk as Yeshua walked”, in Torah.
But I’M a GENTILE! –> Gentiles and Torah
יהוה Yeshua be with you ! And the peace that comes through obedience to Him.
