In a large number of churches the Ten Commandments are still read during the morning service. This raises the question of whether Christians should still adhere to the Ten Commandments and perhaps also other statutes, regulations and commandments given to the Jewish people and mainly found in the first five books of the Bible. In brief; Must a follower of Jesus Christ adhere to Jewish law, to the Torah.
Currents
There are three movements among Christians:
- the entire Torah must be observed
- only the Ten Commandments are to be kept
- the entire Torah has been abolished
And all three movements rely on the Bible .
The origins of the church
In fact, the community originated from the Jewish religion. In the early days it was one of the movements within the Jewish religion. The three largest movements were those of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the followers of Jesus Christ. The followers of Jesus Christ from the Jews kept and still keep today the ordinances of the Torah. We also know that the apostle Paul always adhered to the Torah. Paul never distanced himself from Judaism. Acts 21 says: (18) The next day Paul went with us to James, where all the elders were gathered. (19) After Paul had greeted them, he related in detail what God had accomplished through his preaching work among the Gentiles. (20) When they heard this, they praised and honored God and said, ,You have seen, brother, that many thousands of Jews have also accepted the faith, and all are living faithfully according to the law. (NBV)
Paul never called on the Jews to say goodbye to the Torah, on the contrary.
The Torah was, is and remains in force for the Jews. The Torah was given by God to the people of Israel as an everlasting ordinance. There was never any doubt in the church of the first few hundred years that the Jews who followed the Way were required to keep the Torah.
Also because of Paul’s travels through the Roman Empire where he proclaimed the gospel in many large places, many pagans came to believe in Your sister Christ. These people also found a place in the community. These people were not obliged to keep the Torah, because the Torah was given by God to the God-chosen people of Israel. In Acts 21 it says:
(25) As for the Gentiles who have accepted the faith, we have written to them our decision that they should beware of meat used in idolatry, of blood, of flesh which still contains blood, and for fornication. This decision was made at an earlier meeting of the apostles, see Acts 15.
The burden of the Torah was not imposed on followers of the Way out of paganism. They were not even told to keep the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20).
The churches in the first few hundred years therefore had two movements, the Messiah-confessing Jews, who observed the Torah, and the Messiah-confessing Gentiles, who were not bound by the Torah.
About this wonderful and incomprehensible event for us, that two opposite currents nevertheless formed a unity, Paul writes in his letter to the church in Ephesus, chapter 2: (14) For He (Jesus Christ) is our peace, He who with His death made the two worlds one, and broke down the wall of enmity between them and made void the law with its commandments and regulations, that from the two he might create in Himself one new man.
In the churches of that time, unity among themselves consisted of faith in and trust in Christ Jesus. The Torah has been put out of action in the church. Also the Ten Commandments.
In the community – in fact: in the synagogue professing Messiah – the Jewish festivals were observed and celebrated. This is evident from, among other things, 1 Cor. 5: (8) Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of purity and truth (NV). Here again are these two movements. The feasts must be celebrated in the community in such a way that it is reflected that these feasts relate to the redemptive work of the Messiah, to the great redemptive plan of God. The old leaven relates to the celebration without taking into account the coming of the Messiah and the leaven of wickedness and wickedness looks to the purely pagan manner of festivals and beasts, which were celebrated in honor of the idols.
History
These two movements within the church finally came to an end with the Council of Nicaea (325 AD). The Jews were forbidden to perform circumcision. And the Jewish/Christian holidays were abolished and replaced by pagan holidays.
Passover was replaced by Easter, the festival of the Babylonian fertility goddess. The Feast of Tabernacles was replaced by Christmas, the birthday of the Roman sun god, also a god originating from the Babylonian kingdom of gods.
These pagan festivals are still celebrated in churches and communities. Easter with eggs, colored or not, with hares and Easter bread and Easter candle. Christmas complete with the accompanying tree, with candles and stars and the eating of turkey, but it should actually be a goose. Talking about leaven of wickedness and anger.
Conclusion
We started with the three movements, the answers are:
Movement 1, The entire Torah must be observed. The Torah was given to the people of Israel. Movement 2, Only the ten commandments must be observed. Here too, it applies that the Christians from paganism has not had this burden imposed on it .
Movement 3, The entire Torah has been abolished. The Torah has been put out of action in the community.