The Big Question for Believers
No Longer Under the Law? What That Question Really Means for Believers Today
Few questions stir up more confusion in faith communities than this one: are we no longer under the Law? It sounds simple on the surface, but the moment you start pulling at that thread, you realize the question itself needs to be examined before any answer can be given. Because the answer depends entirely on what you mean when you ask it.
Are you asking whether your sins are forgiven and atoned for through Messiah Yeshua? Or are you asking whether you no longer have any obligation to be obedient to the teachings God passed down through Moses? Those are two very different questions, and conflating them has caused no small amount of confusion in the Body of Believers.
The Condemned and the Redeemed
Start with the straightforward part. John 3:17-18 makes clear that those who have not placed their trust in Yeshua are already condemned. The question of whether they are under the Law is almost beside the point -- they are in a state of condemnation regardless of whether they observe the commandments or ignore them entirely. Keeping the Law without faith does not save. That has never been the point of the Law.
Now consider the person who does place their trust in Yeshua as Messiah -- the one who is born from above. That person is no longer condemned. Hebrews 10:14 reminds us that by one offering, Yeshua has perfected forever those being made holy. Notice the present tense: being made holy. Forgiveness of sin is not the finish line. It is the starting point of a life of growing in the knowledge and character of God.
So the real question becomes: after you are saved by grace through faith, how do you know how to live?
The Law as a Revelation of God's Character
Here is where the conversation gets rich. The Torah -- the Law of Moses -- is not a burden imposed on reluctant people. It is the way God reveals Himself. It is how He teaches His people to interact with one another and with Him. Romans 7:12 puts it plainly: the Torah is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
God Himself declared through Moses that obedience to His teachings would make Israel a wise people in the eyes of the surrounding nations. Why would any believer want to walk away from that? The person who genuinely loves God will want to understand what God values, how God thinks, and how God calls His people to treat one another. Torah is the primary vehicle for that understanding.
To think that the Law has been nullified or done away with entirely is simply not supported by the text. Yeshua said nothing new. The apostles said nothing new. The entire body of apostolic writing is built on the foundation of the Hebrew Scriptures. When Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, reproof, restoration, and training in righteousness -- the only Scripture that existed at that time was the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh. The Torah.
What About Gentile Believers?
This is where many people get tangled. There is a common misreading of the phrase "one Torah for Israel and the foreigner" that leads people to conclude that every single commandment applies to every single person. But that is not what the text means. There is one Torah -- not two different sets of laws -- but within that one Torah, certain commandments apply to specific groups. Some are for priests and Levites in Temple service. Some are for those living in the Promised Land. Some are specifically for men or for women. These distinctions matter.
That said, Gentile believers are not off the hook. Far from it. The apostolic writings -- what many call the New Testament -- contain more than 700 commandments. All of them apply to Gentile believers. The apostolic writers do not offer much wiggle room. You have free will and can choose to ignore the teachings, but that choice carries consequences for your life and for the harmony of the community of faith around you.
An ancient document called the Didache, a summary of apostolic instruction to early Gentile congregations, contains between 125 and 175 commandments depending on how you count them. Every single one of them ties back to the Torah. None of them are new. None of them are impossible. And none of them are presented as optional.
The Easy Yoke Explained
When Yeshua says His yoke is easy, that can sound contradictory when you are staring down 700-plus commandments. But the ease He describes comes from stripping away the layers of man-made additions that had accumulated around the commandments over centuries. Take Shabbat as an example. The core commandment is not complicated: do not do your ordinary work, prepare ahead of time, gather together, and do not conduct business. That is manageable. What made Shabbat feel crushing was the elaborate system of human interpretations piled on top of the original instruction.
The yoke is also easy because of what Yeshua has already accomplished. When you know your sin is forgiven and eternal life is yours as a gift, keeping the commandments flows from gratitude and love rather than fear and obligation. That changes everything about how you approach them.
A Single-Minded Focus
So which commandments should you follow? The answer requires three things. First, study. Read each commandment carefully and honestly assess whether it applies to your situation, your geography, your role, and your calling. Second, do not take on commandments that are specifically designated for Israel in ways that do not apply to you. Third, do not commit to a commandment until you are genuinely ready to commit. The Law reveals where you fall short. Once you take something on and then transgress it knowingly, that is sin. Be honest about where you are.
Most importantly, remember this: keeping the commandments will not save your soul. They were never designed to save. But they will make you wise. They will shape your character. They will teach you who God is and how He calls you to live among the people around you.
Be single-minded. Study the Scriptures. Love God. Follow His teachings -- not to become more Jewish, not to earn your salvation, but because you love Yeshua and want to be conformed to His likeness until He returns.
Few questions stir up more confusion in faith communities than this one: are we no longer under the Law? It sounds simple on the surface, but the moment you start pulling at that thread, you realize the question itself needs to be examined before any answer can be given. Because the answer depends entirely on what you mean when you ask it.
Are you asking whether your sins are forgiven and atoned for through Messiah Yeshua? Or are you asking whether you no longer have any obligation to be obedient to the teachings God passed down through Moses? Those are two very different questions, and conflating them has caused no small amount of confusion in the Body of Believers.
The Condemned and the Redeemed
Start with the straightforward part. John 3:17-18 makes clear that those who have not placed their trust in Yeshua are already condemned. The question of whether they are under the Law is almost beside the point -- they are in a state of condemnation regardless of whether they observe the commandments or ignore them entirely. Keeping the Law without faith does not save. That has never been the point of the Law.
Now consider the person who does place their trust in Yeshua as Messiah -- the one who is born from above. That person is no longer condemned. Hebrews 10:14 reminds us that by one offering, Yeshua has perfected forever those being made holy. Notice the present tense: being made holy. Forgiveness of sin is not the finish line. It is the starting point of a life of growing in the knowledge and character of God.
So the real question becomes: after you are saved by grace through faith, how do you know how to live?
The Law as a Revelation of God's Character
Here is where the conversation gets rich. The Torah -- the Law of Moses -- is not a burden imposed on reluctant people. It is the way God reveals Himself. It is how He teaches His people to interact with one another and with Him. Romans 7:12 puts it plainly: the Torah is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
God Himself declared through Moses that obedience to His teachings would make Israel a wise people in the eyes of the surrounding nations. Why would any believer want to walk away from that? The person who genuinely loves God will want to understand what God values, how God thinks, and how God calls His people to treat one another. Torah is the primary vehicle for that understanding.
To think that the Law has been nullified or done away with entirely is simply not supported by the text. Yeshua said nothing new. The apostles said nothing new. The entire body of apostolic writing is built on the foundation of the Hebrew Scriptures. When Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, reproof, restoration, and training in righteousness -- the only Scripture that existed at that time was the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh. The Torah.
What About Gentile Believers?
This is where many people get tangled. There is a common misreading of the phrase "one Torah for Israel and the foreigner" that leads people to conclude that every single commandment applies to every single person. But that is not what the text means. There is one Torah -- not two different sets of laws -- but within that one Torah, certain commandments apply to specific groups. Some are for priests and Levites in Temple service. Some are for those living in the Promised Land. Some are specifically for men or for women. These distinctions matter.
That said, Gentile believers are not off the hook. Far from it. The apostolic writings -- what many call the New Testament -- contain more than 700 commandments. All of them apply to Gentile believers. The apostolic writers do not offer much wiggle room. You have free will and can choose to ignore the teachings, but that choice carries consequences for your life and for the harmony of the community of faith around you.
An ancient document called the Didache, a summary of apostolic instruction to early Gentile congregations, contains between 125 and 175 commandments depending on how you count them. Every single one of them ties back to the Torah. None of them are new. None of them are impossible. And none of them are presented as optional.
The Easy Yoke Explained
When Yeshua says His yoke is easy, that can sound contradictory when you are staring down 700-plus commandments. But the ease He describes comes from stripping away the layers of man-made additions that had accumulated around the commandments over centuries. Take Shabbat as an example. The core commandment is not complicated: do not do your ordinary work, prepare ahead of time, gather together, and do not conduct business. That is manageable. What made Shabbat feel crushing was the elaborate system of human interpretations piled on top of the original instruction.
The yoke is also easy because of what Yeshua has already accomplished. When you know your sin is forgiven and eternal life is yours as a gift, keeping the commandments flows from gratitude and love rather than fear and obligation. That changes everything about how you approach them.
A Single-Minded Focus
So which commandments should you follow? The answer requires three things. First, study. Read each commandment carefully and honestly assess whether it applies to your situation, your geography, your role, and your calling. Second, do not take on commandments that are specifically designated for Israel in ways that do not apply to you. Third, do not commit to a commandment until you are genuinely ready to commit. The Law reveals where you fall short. Once you take something on and then transgress it knowingly, that is sin. Be honest about where you are.
Most importantly, remember this: keeping the commandments will not save your soul. They were never designed to save. But they will make you wise. They will shape your character. They will teach you who God is and how He calls you to live among the people around you.
Be single-minded. Study the Scriptures. Love God. Follow His teachings -- not to become more Jewish, not to earn your salvation, but because you love Yeshua and want to be conformed to His likeness until He returns.
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