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Fifteen questions, answered from the whole Bible
This is our fellowship’s back-to-basics series: the questions we work through together on Shabbat, written out with the passages behind them, for newcomers and for those who have studied Torah for years.
The series
The fifteen questions
Read them in order or jump to the one you came with. Each page shows the passages first and draws the point after.
Question 1
Why the commandments still apply
God’s word endures, sin is defined by his law, and Jesus said not one stroke of it would pass away.
ReadQuestion 2
The Sabbath
Why we rest on the seventh day, how Scripture says to keep it, and how Sunday came to take its place.
ReadQuestion 3
Did the cross abolish the law?
What Jesus’ death ended, what it did not, and what “fulfill” means.
ReadQuestion 4
The law of Christ
Jesus taught his Father’s doctrine, so his law and the Torah are one law, not two.
ReadQuestion 5
Torah for all nations
One law for the native and the stranger, and disciples from every nation taught to keep it.
ReadQuestion 6
The apostles after the resurrection
Shavuot, Sabbaths, clean food and feasts in the book of Acts and the letters.
ReadQuestion 7
Showing our love for God
Scripture defines love for God, and it looks like keeping his commandments.
ReadQuestion 8
Have sacrifices been abolished?
Not abolished, but not possible without a temple and priesthood, and why that is not a loophole.
ReadQuestion 9
Has the church replaced Israel?
Believers from the nations are grafted into Israel’s olive tree, not planted in a different one.
ReadQuestion 10
The new covenant
The same law, written on the heart by the Spirit, with a better mediator and a once-for-all sacrifice.
ReadQuestion 11
The feast days
The LORD’s appointed times, why we keep them, and why Christmas and Easter are not among them.
ReadQuestion 12
Clean and unclean
Leviticus 11 today, with an honest look at Peter’s vision, Mark 7 and Romans 14.
ReadQuestion 13
Tzitzit
The fringes God commanded, why Jesus wore them, and who wears them today.
ReadQuestion 14
Did Paul teach against the law?
Paul in his own words, and how to read his hard passages the way Peter warned us to.
ReadQuestion 15
What we can follow today
Which commands we can keep now, which wait for a temple, priesthood, land or court, and why.
ReadA suggested order
Where to begin
The questions build on one another. If you are new to this, reading them in this order will save you some backtracking.
Foundations
Start with why God’s commandments endure (Question 1), what the cross did and did not change (Question 3), and why the law of Christ is not a different law (Question 4).
The law and the covenant
Then the two covenants and what is actually new (Question 10), how to read Paul the way Peter warned us to (Question 14), and where sacrifices fit (Question 8).
The people of God
Next, who Torah is for (Question 5), what the apostles did after the resurrection (Question 6), and whether the church has replaced Israel (Question 9).
Living it out
Then the practice: love shown through obedience (Question 7), the Sabbath (Question 2), the feast days (Question 11), clean and unclean food (Question 12) and tzitzit (Question 13).
Putting it together
Finish with what we can keep today and what waits (Question 15), then browse the short answers for anything still open.
The best way to use this series is with a Bible open. Read the passages for yourself before you read our sentences about them, and test what we say against what is written (Acts 17:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:21). Write down the verses you meet in your own study that speak to one of these questions, and bring them and your questions to Shabbat.
If you are reading on your own and would like to talk any of this through, or to join us for a Shabbat gathering in one of our homes, we would be glad to hear from you. Get in touch.