Common questions, answered briefly

God’s word does not pass away (Isaiah 40:8; Psalm 119:89-91), sin is still defined by his law (1 John 3:4; Romans 7:7), and Jesus said not one stroke of the law would pass until heaven and earth do (Matthew 5:17-19). He kept it, taught it, and sent his disciples to teach the nations everything he had commanded (Matthew 28:19-20). See Question 1 in the study series.

Jesus said plainly that he did not come to destroy the law (Matthew 5:17), and Paul asks whether faith nullifies the law and answers, may it never be (Romans 3:31). What the cross ended is the penalty against us, the record of debt (Colossians 2:14), and the need for repeated sacrifice (Hebrews 10:1-4), not the standard itself. See Question 3.

Jesus said his teaching was not his own but the Father’s who sent him (John 7:16; 12:49-50), and he is the prophet like Moses who speaks God’s words (Deuteronomy 18:18-19; Acts 3:22-23). The law of Christ is the Torah as the Messiah taught and lived it. Love summarizes it (Matthew 22:37-40) but does not replace it. See Question 4.

The old covenant is the Sinai covenant as the people kept it, and God found fault with them for breaking it (Jeremiah 31:32; Hebrews 8:8-9). The new covenant has the same law, now written on the heart by the Spirit, with sins forgiven and a better mediator and sacrifice (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:26-27; Hebrews 8:10). What became obsolete is the old priesthood and administration (Hebrews 7:12), not the commandments. See Question 10.

Paul said he believed everything written in the law (Acts 24:14), had done nothing against it (Acts 25:8), and called it holy, righteous and good (Romans 7:12). His hard passages are about justification, which the law was never able to give (Galatians 2:16; Romans 3:20), and “not under law” means not under its condemnation (Romans 6:15; 8:3-4). Peter warned that Paul is hard to understand and gets twisted toward lawlessness (2 Peter 3:15-17). See Question 14.

No. Salvation is by grace through faith, not of works (Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-12). Obedience does not earn God’s love; it is how we answer it, because this is loving God, that we keep his commandments (1 John 5:3; John 14:15). Grace is the root and obedience is the fruit.

The Torah says there is one law for the native-born and for the stranger who lives among you (Numbers 15:15-16; Leviticus 24:22; Exodus 12:49), and Isaiah blesses the foreigners who keep the Sabbath and hold fast his covenant (Isaiah 56:6-7). Jesus sent his disciples to teach all nations to observe everything he commanded (Matthew 28:19-20). See Question 5.

Yes. They gathered for Shavuot (Acts 2:1), kept the Sabbath in city after city (Acts 13:14; 17:2; 18:4), Peter had never eaten anything unclean (Acts 10:14), Paul hurried to Jerusalem for a feast (Acts 20:16) and said he believed all things in the law (Acts 24:14), and he told the Corinthians to keep the feast (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). See Question 6.

No, and the church has not been split off from Israel either. Believers from the nations are wild branches grafted into Israel’s olive tree (Romans 11:17-18), fellow citizens who were once strangers to the covenants (Ephesians 2:11-19), and the new covenant itself is made with the house of Israel and Judah (Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 8:8). To be in that covenant is to be joined to Israel. See Question 9.

No. There is one law for the native and the foreigner (Numbers 15:15-16), there is no distinction between Jew and Greek in the Messiah (Galatians 3:28-29; Romans 10:12-13), and believers from the nations are grafted into Israel by faith, not by ancestry (Romans 11:17-18; Galatians 3:29). What joins a person to Israel is trust in the Messiah.

God rested on the seventh day and made it holy (Genesis 2:2-3), commanded Israel to keep it (Exodus 20:8-11), and called it a sign of his covenant forever (Exodus 31:16-17). Jesus and the apostles kept it (Luke 4:16; Acts 17:2), and it continues (Hebrews 4:9-10; Isaiah 66:23). The move of worship to Sunday came through church history, not through any command in Scripture. See Question 2.

Scripture defines it: this is love, that we walk according to his commandments (2 John 1:6), and Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15). His commandments are not grievous (1 John 5:3) and not too hard (Deuteronomy 30:11-14). Grace comes first; obedience is love’s response. See Question 7.

No, but they are not possible now: the law allows them only at the place God chooses through the priests he appointed (Deuteronomy 12:13-14), and there is no temple or functioning priesthood. Like Daniel in exile we bring prayer and the fruit of our lips (Daniel 6:10; Hosea 14:2; Hebrews 13:15), resting in the Messiah’s once-for-all offering (Hebrews 10:10), while the prophets describe a future temple with offerings (Ezekiel 43:18-19; Zechariah 14:16-21). See Question 8.

Leviticus 23 calls them the LORD’s appointed times, to be kept throughout your generations (Leviticus 23:2, 41), and Scripture warns against worshiping God in the ways of the nations (Deuteronomy 12:29-32; Jeremiah 10:2-4). Jesus and the apostles kept the feasts (John 7:2, 10; Acts 2:1; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8), and Colossians 2:16-17 calls them a shadow of things to come. Christmas and Easter as commonly kept are not found in Scripture. See Question 11.

Yes. Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 define what God calls food, Isaiah says eating pig’s meat is still an issue at the end of the age (Isaiah 66:17), and Peter had never eaten anything unclean years after the resurrection and understood his vision to be about people, not food (Acts 10:14, 28). Mark 7 is about hand-washing tradition and Romans 14 about disputes between believers over meat. See Question 12.

Tzitzit are the fringes God commanded on the corners of our garments, with a cord of blue, so that we see them and remember all his commandments (Numbers 15:38-40; Deuteronomy 22:12). Jesus wore them (Matthew 9:20-21; 14:36). The command is to the children of Israel without a gender limit, so in our fellowship men, women and children wear them, while we recognize that some hold it is for men only. See Question 13.

Everything not tied to the temple, the priesthood, the land or a covenant court: Sabbath, the feasts as rest and memorial, food laws, tzitzit, honesty, sexual ethics, care for the poor and the stranger, honoring parents, teaching children. Sacrifices, priestly duties, temple tithes, land laws and judicial penalties wait until God restores what they depend on (Deuteronomy 12:13-14; 17:8-9). We do what is possible and invent no substitutes (Deuteronomy 4:2). See Question 15.

We rejoice in both. The days Scripture gives for remembering his death and resurrection are Passover and Unleavened Bread, which he kept with his disciples and which Paul told believers to keep (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8). Scripture gives no date or observance for his birth. Christmas and Easter as commonly kept came through later church history rather than from Scripture, so we keep the times the LORD appointed instead, without looking down on those who see it differently.

No one does. Justice, mercy and faith come first, without leaving the rest undone (Matthew 23:23). Many begin with the Sabbath, the food instructions, tzitzit and the appointed times, because each is plainly commanded and plainly possible, and grow from there as they read. Grace comes first and carries the whole walk (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Every quotation is from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation, with the divine name rendered the LORD. We chose it so that anyone can copy and share the text freely. Please check our reading against your own Bible; we would rather you test everything than take our word for it (1 Thessalonians 5:21; Acts 17:11).

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