My friend, your article arrests the souls of students of Scripture. This is not an article to read; it is an article to be encountered. There are moments when a writer picks up a pen, and what comes forth is not commentary, but revelation. This article of yours is exactly that.
This article is written with such piercing clarity, such Hebraic honesty, and such covenantal precision that it becomes impossible to walk away unchanged. You have taken a passage that modern Christianity too often glances over and illuminated it with the fire of its original world. You refused to let sentimentality soften the Scripture. You refused to let inherited theology eclipse apostolic reality. Instead, you opened the text and let the text speak.
And it spoke loudly.
Your treatment of the Nazirite vow is brilliant. It dismantles centuries of theological distortion with one simple fact: you cannot take assess the spirituality of that vow without Torah, without Temple, without priesthood, without covenant obligation. You brought the reader face to face with the Paul who walked into Jerusalem not as a man above Torah, but as one who honored it. And you backed every claim with precision and textual honesty.
Your work is illuminating. It calls the reader back to Scripture itself, back to apostolic witness, back to the world Jesus lived in and Paul loved.
But the question you left lingering at the end is the one that took my breath.
If Paul had to prove he kept Torah, who would it be that would work to convince us that exemption is spiritual maturity?
That question thunders with mercy. It invites the modern believer to return to the ancient path.
Bro, this article is a gift. It is a clarion call for every serious reader of Scripture. It is an invitation to honesty, to humility, and to deeper obedience.
I honor you for writing it.
I thank God for your pen.
And I believe this piece will shake the dust off many minds and awaken a hunger to see Paul as he truly was.
Well done, you have served the Church well with this work.
However, I keep the Torah because the Holy Spirit has written it on my heart and He has changed me so that I normally keep Torah. If I try to do it myself, it's a horrid failure on my part every time. It's part of the character of the reborn as we mature. It's a major part of the New Covenant that Jeremiah shared. The heart of flesh replacing the one of stone.
These "Christians" you seem to be referring to do not seem like they are reborn, so I would class them as Churchians—i.e., unsaved.
In my 50 years walking in the Lord, I've never experienced so-called Christians like those you are talking about. Of course, my focus is on so-called believers who refuse to get baptized in the Holy Spirit. The heretical cessationists. So, I can't throw stones.
I just comfort myself with the truth that all doctrine will be gone within the decade (maybe a bit longer).
I need to get better at isolating the groups I'm talking about. I think I get into the logic of broad categorization and assume other people are going to understand me. But thank you for pointing that out!
It's easy to do that. I talk in generalities all the time. I need to stop that also. Plus, the people I'm most concerned about are quite religious, but they are taught that rebirth is heretical. And that God does not talk to people anymore.
According to Ezekiel's temple timeline your measurement "that all doctrine will be gone within the decade" is right on the money. Ezekiel clearly pointed to 2034-35 as the cut off date. 34-35 because the issue of whether to start counting years begins at 0 or at 1 has never been adequately resolved, so the 34-35 figure covers both approaches. I would be very interested in knowing how you came about that measurement with so much accuracy?
As you recommended, I read Jeremiah 31 as to covenant requirements under the New Covenant between Jesus and us gentiles.
“I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts….”
I did not come away with the obligation to keep the 613 commandments. But rather that of the two greatest commandments, I will find them in my heart, not in my intellect; that I won’t act out of requirement of the law, but out of desire to obey God. That His Spirit will be my counsel as I lean in to Him to serve Him better.
Are you saying I need to adhere to the mitzvot? I do not see as a gentile, how that is written on my heart.
Crispin, that’s a big question — and most of the confusion comes from mistranslation and bad assumptions baked into modern Christianity. Take one example: in Matthew 5, when Jesus says He didn’t come to abolish the Law, the English word “fulfill” throws people off. In the Greek and in the underlying Hebrew concept, He’s saying He came to establish it, uphold it — not replace it with a lighter version.
That’s where this whole discussion gets messy. Yes, there are 613 commandments, but a huge portion were for the Temple, the priesthood, or national Israel in the land. Nobody is doing those today — not Jews, not Gentiles — because there’s no Temple. But the rest? The moral commands, the ethical commands, the covenant commands? God never revoked those for humanity. Not once.
That’s why reducing it all to “two commandments” misses the point. Those two are summaries, not substitutes. If I tell you to “love God,” the next question is obvious: What does God say love actually looks like? That’s where the Torah comes in.
Honestly, this comes up so often I probably need to write a full article walking it out from Jeremiah 31 all the way through Matthew 5 and the apostles.
And just so you know — I love how you’re digging. Don’t take anything I say as rude; half the time I’m talking into my phone at a stoplight. I’ve written about this before, so I’ll need to dig around and find the link for you.
What happens to us gentile Christians who have not had any exposure to the law? We read the OT as a law for Hebrews, not for us. We have no connection to mitzvot, no understanding behind God’s reason for many of those arcane rules.
I mean, I was taught that the law was given by God as a mirror to show the Hebrews that no matter how hard they tried, they could never be perfect enough to earn their way to heaven, therefore, the need for the Messiah.
You nailed it, my friend. That’s exactly what you were taught... and at the end of the day, it really is that simple: what pleases God?
Men overcomplicate everything.
See the Torah as Him saying, “This is what makes Me happy.” Then the real question then becomes whether your heart is in it. The Pharisees weren’t wrong for doing the actions; they were wrong because they did them for structure instead of love.
I love when someone slows the text down enough to make me pay attention to what I’ve skimmed over and leaves me asking questions. I need to read these passages slowly now so I can work it out for myself. Thanks for providing a great starting point for deeper study.
Sergio,
My friend, your article arrests the souls of students of Scripture. This is not an article to read; it is an article to be encountered. There are moments when a writer picks up a pen, and what comes forth is not commentary, but revelation. This article of yours is exactly that.
This article is written with such piercing clarity, such Hebraic honesty, and such covenantal precision that it becomes impossible to walk away unchanged. You have taken a passage that modern Christianity too often glances over and illuminated it with the fire of its original world. You refused to let sentimentality soften the Scripture. You refused to let inherited theology eclipse apostolic reality. Instead, you opened the text and let the text speak.
And it spoke loudly.
Your treatment of the Nazirite vow is brilliant. It dismantles centuries of theological distortion with one simple fact: you cannot take assess the spirituality of that vow without Torah, without Temple, without priesthood, without covenant obligation. You brought the reader face to face with the Paul who walked into Jerusalem not as a man above Torah, but as one who honored it. And you backed every claim with precision and textual honesty.
Your work is illuminating. It calls the reader back to Scripture itself, back to apostolic witness, back to the world Jesus lived in and Paul loved.
But the question you left lingering at the end is the one that took my breath.
If Paul had to prove he kept Torah, who would it be that would work to convince us that exemption is spiritual maturity?
That question thunders with mercy. It invites the modern believer to return to the ancient path.
Bro, this article is a gift. It is a clarion call for every serious reader of Scripture. It is an invitation to honesty, to humility, and to deeper obedience.
I honor you for writing it.
I thank God for your pen.
And I believe this piece will shake the dust off many minds and awaken a hunger to see Paul as he truly was.
Well done, you have served the Church well with this work.
— Wendell
OK, I agree with what you have written.
However, I keep the Torah because the Holy Spirit has written it on my heart and He has changed me so that I normally keep Torah. If I try to do it myself, it's a horrid failure on my part every time. It's part of the character of the reborn as we mature. It's a major part of the New Covenant that Jeremiah shared. The heart of flesh replacing the one of stone.
These "Christians" you seem to be referring to do not seem like they are reborn, so I would class them as Churchians—i.e., unsaved.
In my 50 years walking in the Lord, I've never experienced so-called Christians like those you are talking about. Of course, my focus is on so-called believers who refuse to get baptized in the Holy Spirit. The heretical cessationists. So, I can't throw stones.
I just comfort myself with the truth that all doctrine will be gone within the decade (maybe a bit longer).
I need to get better at isolating the groups I'm talking about. I think I get into the logic of broad categorization and assume other people are going to understand me. But thank you for pointing that out!
It's easy to do that. I talk in generalities all the time. I need to stop that also. Plus, the people I'm most concerned about are quite religious, but they are taught that rebirth is heretical. And that God does not talk to people anymore.
According to Ezekiel's temple timeline your measurement "that all doctrine will be gone within the decade" is right on the money. Ezekiel clearly pointed to 2034-35 as the cut off date. 34-35 because the issue of whether to start counting years begins at 0 or at 1 has never been adequately resolved, so the 34-35 figure covers both approaches. I would be very interested in knowing how you came about that measurement with so much accuracy?
It just fits with what the Holy Spirit has been telling me. It's from Him, AFAIK.
Very interesting. It all comes from the same source. Thanks for explaining.
As you recommended, I read Jeremiah 31 as to covenant requirements under the New Covenant between Jesus and us gentiles.
“I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts….”
I did not come away with the obligation to keep the 613 commandments. But rather that of the two greatest commandments, I will find them in my heart, not in my intellect; that I won’t act out of requirement of the law, but out of desire to obey God. That His Spirit will be my counsel as I lean in to Him to serve Him better.
Are you saying I need to adhere to the mitzvot? I do not see as a gentile, how that is written on my heart.
Ugh….
Crispin, that’s a big question — and most of the confusion comes from mistranslation and bad assumptions baked into modern Christianity. Take one example: in Matthew 5, when Jesus says He didn’t come to abolish the Law, the English word “fulfill” throws people off. In the Greek and in the underlying Hebrew concept, He’s saying He came to establish it, uphold it — not replace it with a lighter version.
That’s where this whole discussion gets messy. Yes, there are 613 commandments, but a huge portion were for the Temple, the priesthood, or national Israel in the land. Nobody is doing those today — not Jews, not Gentiles — because there’s no Temple. But the rest? The moral commands, the ethical commands, the covenant commands? God never revoked those for humanity. Not once.
That’s why reducing it all to “two commandments” misses the point. Those two are summaries, not substitutes. If I tell you to “love God,” the next question is obvious: What does God say love actually looks like? That’s where the Torah comes in.
Honestly, this comes up so often I probably need to write a full article walking it out from Jeremiah 31 all the way through Matthew 5 and the apostles.
And just so you know — I love how you’re digging. Don’t take anything I say as rude; half the time I’m talking into my phone at a stoplight. I’ve written about this before, so I’ll need to dig around and find the link for you.
That link was very helpful.
What happens to us gentile Christians who have not had any exposure to the law? We read the OT as a law for Hebrews, not for us. We have no connection to mitzvot, no understanding behind God’s reason for many of those arcane rules.
I mean, I was taught that the law was given by God as a mirror to show the Hebrews that no matter how hard they tried, they could never be perfect enough to earn their way to heaven, therefore, the need for the Messiah.
You nailed it, my friend. That’s exactly what you were taught... and at the end of the day, it really is that simple: what pleases God?
Men overcomplicate everything.
See the Torah as Him saying, “This is what makes Me happy.” Then the real question then becomes whether your heart is in it. The Pharisees weren’t wrong for doing the actions; they were wrong because they did them for structure instead of love.
https://substack.com/@mrdesoto/note/c-176069623?r=2nnvf1&utm_medium=ios
My reading of Psalm 19 took on a whole different meaning tonight 💕
The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.
I love when someone slows the text down enough to make me pay attention to what I’ve skimmed over and leaves me asking questions. I need to read these passages slowly now so I can work it out for myself. Thanks for providing a great starting point for deeper study.
Made me smile - thank you AJ!