What is “grace” in the New Testament of the Bible, and who gives it? Did Yeshua’s grace replace or usurp God’s grace? No, God gave us grace when he gave mankind the Torah and then He gave us even more grace when He gave us Yeshua. One does not replace the other. Works of Torah obedience are only of use to the believer after one trusts in God for salvation — not before — because salvation cannot be earned.
Here is part 2 of the Be a Berean video study series by Sean Hilton. In this episode, Sean explores dozens of New Testament verses that seem to say be contradictory on whether the Law (aka the Torah) is what believers in Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) should be keeping or is “nailed to the cross.” Sean asks those interested in knowing God better whether the Bible is double-minded on grace and the Law.
Paul’s discussions of circumcision, mainly in Galatians, Philippians and Romans, have been interpreted as being condemnation against the Torah, because the Law calls for circumcision for newborns and those wanting to participate in key parts of worship of God.
However, it must be remembered that circumcision by the first century A.D. had become an “identity marker” separating Jews from non-Jews. Like observance of Shabbat, circumcision was listed among the “works of [the] law” in the Dead Sea Scrolls that defined those separate from the corrupt religious system around the time of the first century. The rite of circumcision could be behind the division between Jewish and “unconverted” non-Jews that Paul dressed down Peter and the Galatian congregations in chapters 2 and 3 of this letter.
Galatians in general and chapters 2 and 3 in particular frequently are used to prove that observing the Law isn’t required for believers. However, the discussion of “justification” and “works of [the] law” in this passage reinforces that the real problem was excluding “justified” believers in God and His Messiah from membership in Israel, whose constitution is the Law of God.
Paul returned to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) to celebrate one of the appointed times of the LORD. While there, the leadership of the body of believers there note the great work God’s Spirit is doing among the nations but point out opposition from some believers who claim that Paul is teaching believing Jews to disregard Torah — the first five books of the Bible — and tradition. This was a revisiting of the ruling by the Yerushalayim Council, recorded in Acts 15, on what standard the new believers from the nations were called to follow.
Some claim this passage shows Paul’s “being all things to all people,” by going along with the supposedly obsolete Torah. A new body of New Testament scholars are warming to what’s called the New Perspective of Paul, which views the traditional interpretation of “works of law” in the letters to the Galatians and Romans as referring to the Torah itself to be misleading. Today’s discussion of this passage is a beginning point for looking at “works of law” before the study of Galatians begins after Acts.
Acts 15 recounts a “watershed” moment among believers in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) — should believers among the nations be allowed into the assembly of Israel and how. These events didn’t happen in a vacuum. Events from Acts 1–14 — Peter’s encounter with Cornelius and Paul’s first tour of Asia Minor — led to this momentous ruling by the elders. The passage from Amos 9 of restoration of a tabernacle for all believers is important. The Yerushalayim council ruled that we mustn’t “trouble” new believers as they learn Torah.