you have more freedom or less freedom? Well, obviously we would have less
freedom. We would be constantly
on the lookout for bands of street marauders that would rob and loot and
cause destruction to property. And
why wouldn’t they? After all,
there are no laws. It is only
in a society that follows God’s laws that a person is able to find true
freedom.
John 8:32
32 And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
John 17:17
17. Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth.
As we have
seen, Yeshua was a very Torah Observant Jew of his day, as were his
disciples.
Frederick
Holmgren, Research Professor of Old Testament at a Chicago seminary, writes:
"Jesus
embraced the Torah of Moses; he came not to end it but to fulfill it (Matt.
5:17) – to carry its teachings forward.
Further, to those who came to him seeking eternal life, he held it up
as the essential teaching to be observed (Luke 10:25-28). Despite Jesus'
conflict with some interpreters of his day, both Jewish and Christian
scholars see him as one who honored and followed the Law. When Jesus
proclaims the coming rule of God, he speaks nowhere in detail about the
inner character of this rule. He does not need to because that has already
been described in the Old Testament and spoken of in Judaism."
So why is
there such a controversy over the observance of God’s law? There are many
truly sincere Christians who believe that Yeshua came to do
precisely what he said he did NOT come to do: to abolish or “do away”
with the law. (Matt.5:17) Why?