This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Hebrew Roots

We will always find the disciples of Jesus in the New Testament preaching the “cross of Christ” and not ‘Torah (law) keeping‘. There are 4 recommendations found in Acts 15:28-29, to help us to stay clean, & the 3 commandments from Jesus about love, so to LOVE is all that is required to Christians. If we Love Him we will keep His words/teachings, Jn.14:23-24. ‘Love is the fulfillment of the law’ (Ro. 13:10).

If we are really in a New Covenant by the blood of the Lamb of God (Lk.22:20, 1 Cor.11:25, 2 Cor.3:5-6, etc. ), then we have new instructions given by Jesus and He said His yoke is easy. We are not in a ‘renewed‘ covenant as HRM teaches. Can you imagine the yoke of hundreds of the Old Covenant instructions plus all the instructions of the New ? it would be a double yoke, & that’s is what Hebrew Roots Movement teaches.

But Jesus said: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is lightMatthew 11:25-30. Jesus is our Rest, our Sabbath & He was talking to Jews, about the yoke of the old covenant law.

We are not without any law, we now have the Law of Christ, Gal.6:2 & the doctrine (teachings) of Christ, we are in a New Covenant. The law of Christ, then, is to love God with all of our being, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves and He added a new commandment to His followers to love one another of the brethren as HE loved us.

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (which means the entire Torah & the entire Old Testament). Mark 12:32–33

For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. . . A NEW commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. John 13:3-34

For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not give false testimony, You shall not covet,” and if there are any other commandments, are summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love works no evil to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Rom. 13:9-10

* If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. Hebrews 7:12

For all (G3956= whole, entire) the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Gal. 5:14

We fulfill the law when we love according to the Scriptures, so instead of memorizing 613 commandments (number according to Talmud) that Judaism & also the HRM teaches to observe (many are related to the temple service that doesn’t exist anymore), we just need to put our effort in imitating Jesus by loving God & others, He is our example and if He is our Lord we will follow His instructions. But it is important to know that true love 1 Cor. 13 comes only from God, is a gift of the Spirit Gal. 5:22, we won’t be able to accomplish this in our own strength but only by the power of the Holy Spirit in us.

 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.1 Jn.3:22-23

We know there are some that go to the other extreme, that is also wrong & teach an easy believe-ism gospel that is not biblical, which is about fake love that doesn’t come from God, that is man pleasing & disregards the teachings (Doctrine) of Jesus Christ.

Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to anotherto Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. . .But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Romans 7:1-6,

There are only 2 options:

1/ Or we are under the law (married or bound to the Mosaic Law).

2/ Or we are IN Christ Jesus,

We cannot have both ways, because it is spiritual adultery. The Mosaic law given in Mount Sinai was for Jacob’s descendants born according to the flesh (Israelites) but not for the ones born according to the Spirit (New Covenant).

Real Christians have died to self, dead to the law, the law has no dominion over us anymore: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Gal.2:20

Gal.4: 21-31 “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written:. . . Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.”o then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

Hebrews 8:13 “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.”

 

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 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: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom.8:1-4

Phil.3:8-9  . .that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ,the righteousness which is of God on the basis of faith,

JESUS IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, NOT the LAW KEEPING:

1 Cor. 1:28-30. also Romans 5:17, 2 Cor.5:21, Jeremiah 23:6

Everyone who walks after the flesh is under the law, Christians do not walk after the flesh but after the Spirit. If we are truly born again we were born of the Spirit of God (John 3:1-7).

Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? . .Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. . . For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,”who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. . . .

19 -What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; Galatians 3: 2-19

The Law (Mount Sinai) was temporary until Jesus (the Promise made to Abraham) should come.

Hebrew Roots leaders say they teach that Salvation derives from the belief in Jesus Christ as personal savior, not from Torah keeping. However, because of their frequent harsh condemnations of those who do not practice the law of Sinai, it seems that to them salvation is not by faith in Christ alone. What happens is that HRM also teaches that sin is breaking the written Torah of old covenant, they twist (1 John 3:4). Laws such as dietary restrictions and Sabbath keeping are in the written Torah, thus it is sin to not keep Sabbath and to eat forbidden food. In the HRM the Law overwrites Grace, and the atoning work of Jesus Christ is incomplete. For the HRM, if you are not moved (or awaken) to keep the Sabbath or keep dietary restrictions, then you must not truly be born of God.  -Like the  Calvinist, Catholics, Cults, etc. they are not looking for the fruit of the Spirit, but for works of the flesh!!

HRM teaches the word ‘transgression‘ (G3847 = to overstep, neglect, violate) in Gal. 3;19 , is a contradiction & error because ‘transgression’ only means to disobey the ‘Mosaic law’ or Torah, but this is false, in Rom.5:14 the Bible mentions Adam’s transgression (same word G3847) but the Mosaic Law didn’t exist until about 2500 years later. Adam disobeyed an specific order of not to eat from the tree of good & evil. The Mosaic Law or the law of Mount Sinai was only given to the Israelites (Old Covenant) after being part & delivered from Egypt a pagan nation full of sin, idolatry and witchcraft.

=>  “The Lord made NOT this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this dayDeut.5:1-3

The law was added to the Old Covenant because sin abounded, an example that easily comes to mind is the worship of the golden calf. Ex.32 The law  acted as a tutor/teacher (Gal.3:24) until Christ. The Holy Spirit is now the teacher/tutor of the New Testament believer Jn.14:26, not the law. The law shows our sin. The Holy Spirit also convicts us of sin. The Torah attempted to change people from the outside. The Holy Spirit changes our hearts, from within. There is a direct parallel here. In fact, Pentecost/Shavuot for the Jews symbolizes the giving of the ‘Torah’ (Law, instruction) on Mount Sinai (or birth of Judaism, it also celebrated the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest). Pentecost for the NT believer is when the Church received the gift of the Holy Spirit, (birth of the church,  Christianity/Grace). Acts 2.

But before faith came, we were imprisoned under the law, kept for the faith which was later to be revealed. So the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. You are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, and there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Gal. 3:23-29

1 Tim. 1:3-10:8 But we know that the law is good if someone uses it lawfully. 9 And we know that the law is not given for a righteous person, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, . . . for liars, for perjurers, and for anything else that is contrary to sound doctrine’.

Like we mentioned before, we don’t become part of Israel in the New Covenant, but we both Jew & gentiles ‘believers’ become a new creature, one body in Jesus Christ. Ephe. 2:14

Like the 7th Day Adventist, HRM teaches the word ‘commandments‘ in the New Testament always refers to the law or the 10 commandments. When Jesus said: “If you love Me, obey My commandments (G1785 =precepts)” John 14:15. He is saying this at the end of His ministry in the last supper, right before His arrest, after teaching them daily for 3 and a half years. He was not referring to Torah or Mosaic Law but His teachings, otherwise why He needed to teach them anything if they had it already in the Torah? Jesus gave His last minutes instructions to His disciples and if we continue reading in context in verses 21-24 He tells them these commandments are the words He has spoken while being present with them! The Holy Spirit will help us to remember them, but He doesn’t mention following the Mosaic Law at all.

He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. John 14:21-24

Also in same conversation found in next chapters He continues telling them how important is to keep His words and to abide in Him, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” & “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved youJohn 15:7 & 12. We are Christians because we follow Christ and His teachings, not because we follow Judaism,  or Hebrew Roots or any man’s interpretations.

The word Torah (Hebrew) translated LAW also means instruction, teachings. So when a Jew says the word ‘Torah’ he isn’t talking necessarily about Old Testament, but for them it could mean also Talmud (oral Torah) or Zohar (Kabbalah), etc.

But why movements about following the Old Testament laws are getting more popular lately? Well, it seams there is a hidden agenda pushed behind all of this:

THE NOAHIDE LAWS

There is, at present, a worldwide movement with many points of entry (Lubavitcher Movement, Nazarene Movement, Hebraic Roots/Messianic Movement, Latter Rain/Roman Catholic Year of Jubilee) to bring all of mankind under the Old Testament Law. …

This massive movement also seems to be leading toward the global establishment of the Noahide Laws (already U.S. law -H.J. Resolution 104, Public Law 102-14), for which disobedience the penalty is beheading (Rev. 20:4). The Encyclopedia of Judaism lists these seven universal laws and indicates their binding nature on all Gentiles: …The Encyclopedia of Judaism identifies the Babylonian Talmud (T.B.) as the source of “The Noachide Laws. http://watch.pairsite.com/HRM.html

 

Related Articles:

Works of the Law vs Works of Righteousness

Frequently Asked Questions about Hebrew Roots

The Hebrew Root Movement

Is the Hebrew Root Movement Biblical?

Bewitching Believers Through The Hebrew Root Movement

Attractive Deception – (The False Hope of the Hebrew Roots Movement)

Laying Down The Law

Did God Changed when He changed His Law?

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