Teaching Team

Moral vs. Ceremonial

At First Fruits of Zion, we teach that the Torah is not cancelled by the Gospel. Unlike the common Christian theology that teaches Jesus abolished the Law, we believe that the Torah is God's eternal, unchanging word. We believe that the Torah's commandments like the Sabbath, the festivals, the dietary laws, and so forth are still relevant to all believers today. However, we see a biblical distinction between a Jewish person's obligation to those things and a Gentile believer's obligation.

All of the Torah's laws are moral and ethical laws. Distinctions between moral and ethical laws are arbitrary. Cutting God's laws into artificial moral and ceremonial categories is a slippery way to handle God's Word. Idolatry, for example, is a ritual and ceremonial matter, but most would admit that the prohibition on idolatry is a matter of morality and ethical conduct. As our book Restoration says:

At no point does Torah give any indication of a separation between moral and ceremonial law. The ceremonial laws of the prohibition on idolatry and the law of the Sabbath are listed along with the moral statutes regarding murder and theft. The Torah defines eating unclean animals as equally abominable as cross-dressing and necromancy. God has not distinguished between ritual and ethical laws.(1)

Therefore, Gentile obligation is not as simple as saying "You must keep the moral laws, but not the ritual laws." That is not the conclusion we at First Fruits of Zion have drawn.

Different Laws for Different People

The biblical perspective on Gentiles and Torah does not make a distinction between moral and ceremonial laws. Instead, the Torah distinguishes between the individual peoples that make up the community of Israel. Certain laws apply to certain people. For example, when a Jewish believer opts to defy the Torah's ceremonial circumcision of his eight-day-old son, his intentional refusal to observe the prescribed ceremony is a moral failing for which he is to be cut off from the community of Israel (Genesis 17:14; Exodus 4:24). The same is not true for a Gentile believer though. The Gentile may circumcise his son on the eighth day (and will find strong biblical resonance if he does), but he is not required to do so.

At FFOZ, we do not make a distinction between moral laws and ceremonial laws. That's not the basis by which we should be keeping or not keeping Torah. Instead, we ask a question of specific application. To whom does the particular law pertain?

Not all of God's laws are morally binding on everyone. For example, if a kohen went to a funeral of a non-relative, he broke the Torah's ceremonial law against becoming unclean, and breaking the Torah is immoral. "Sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4). But the funeral prohibition does not apply to the average Israelite. This is not a question of whether a commandment is ceremonial or moral; it is a question of who the Torah morally obligates to fulfill that particular commandment.

When an uncircumcised Gentile does not eat from the meat of a sacrificed Passover lamb, he is actually keeping the Torah. But if a circumcised Jew refused to eat the same lamb, he would be breaking the Torah.

The Great Commission

This explains the great commission. In Matthew 28, Yeshua sends out his disciples to the Gentiles. He tells them to teach the Gentiles to observe everything that he has commanded them. One of the things he has commanded his disciples to do is to keep the whole Torah, even the least of the commandments. Therefore, the disciples should command the Gentiles to keep all the commandments of Torah, right? Yes. That's what we have always taught. But there is still a distinction.

Obviously Yeshua did not mean that Gentile women should therefore be required to keep the commandments that apply to men, nor did he mean that all Gentiles should be bound by the Torah-restrictions that applied to the high priest. Even in the great commission, the Bible assumes an intelligent, literate distinction in application of the commandments.

Which Laws?

Unfortunately, the Apostles did not provide us with a comprehensive list of commandments that they regarded as not incumbent upon Gentile believers. Why? Because the distinction was already obvious in the synagogue culture of the day. The apostles did not bind upon the Gentile believers those ceremonial signs which particularly defined Jewish identity, such as circumcision, the Sabbath, the calendar, and the dietary laws because the larger Jewish community of the time did not consider those things as binding upon Gentiles.

Even the God-fearing, monotheist Gentiles who fellowshipped and participated within the first -century synagogue communities were not obligated to those specifically Jewish aspects of Torah-life.(2) (When the God-fearers in the synagogues did participate in the Sabbaths and dietary laws, they did so without compulsion. There is a difference between mandatory obligation and participation out of a love of God and a desire to identify with His people.)

That is why we see Paul tell the Gentiles of Colossae not to let anyone judge them regarding those same things:

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. (Colossians 2:16)

Paul does not imply that that the Colossian Gentile believers were not keeping the Sabbath, the festivals, and the dietary laws. They probably were. What else would they have been doing?

Yet, Paul declared that no one was in a position to judge the Colossian Gentiles about those things. If Paul were speaking to Jewish believers, he could not have made that statement. Jewish believers, in Paul's day, were subject to judgment in such ritual matters by Torah courts of law. To deny that Jewish believers could be judged regarding those ceremonial matters would be a violation of Torah. Paul goes on to explain that those aspects of Torah are shadows of things to come and the substance of Messiah. He is not against Gentiles keeping those "Jewish" aspects of Torah, he is simply against Gentiles being judged regarding them. Why? Because the Torah does not obligate Gentile believers in the same manner that it obligates Jewish believers.

Some have argued that Paul was merely saying that Gentiles should not be judged for their level of halachah or manner of observance, but that is to say the same thing. If a Colossian Gentile was free to decide how far he could walk on the Sabbath or whether or not he could pick apples on the Sabbath, then he could not be judged by a community standard regarding the Sabbath.

The Sabbath

The Sabbath is a good example of a ceremonial law which Gentiles will do well to keep, but they are not morally obligated to do so in the same way that Jewish people are. At FFOZ, we are all Sabbatarians, we all keep the biblical calendar, and we all keep the dietary laws. Even the Gentile members of our staff are serious Sabbath keepers. We do not teach that the Sabbath is morally obligatory for Gentile believers--but we do teach that the Sabbath is a natural expression of biblical faith and a source of rich blessing for both Jews and Gentiles. We also believe that when a Gentile embraces the Sabbath, he is delighting in the things in which God delights.(3)

This does not mean that the Sabbath is not for Gentile believers. God's holy days are meant for all of God's people. In the apostolic era, God-fearing Gentile believers worshipped along with Jewish believers, keeping the Sabbath side by side with their Jewish brethren. The same will be true in the coming kingdom, and the same should be true in today's Messianic movement. When we say that a Gentile is not obligated by the law of Sabbath, we mean that a Gentile is not liable for punishment for breaking the Sabbath.

Gentile Prerogative

We believe that Gentile believers should keep the Sabbath out of a heart of love for God, respect for His holy day, imitation of His holy Son, and identification with Israel. We advocate that Gentiles keeping the Sabbath to the highest standard that they are able. As Jews and Gentiles, we should all be grateful for the privilege of being able to keep the Sabbath together. The Sabbath brings blessing to me and my family week after week. It is hard for me to understand why anyone would not want to keep the Sabbath.

If a Gentile, for some reason, chooses not to observe the Sabbath, that choice is within the prerogative granted to him by the apostolic community, but, from our perspective, that Gentile is missing out on a blessing and a gift from God.

Common sense should tell us that, in today's world, Gentiles who have joined the Messianic community should be Sabbath observant and regard themselves as Sabbatarian. They should willingly keep the Sabbath at a high standard of observance because they have become part of a community that absolutely is obligated to the Sabbath and is attempting to restore the Jewish roots of our faith. With or without Jewish membership, the Messianic community must be Sabbath observant. However, members of the Messianic community should not look with disdain on other Gentiles who have decided not to join the Messianic Jewish community, nor should Gentiles--even within the Messianic Community--be judged regarding the Sabbath.

Divine Invitation thwarts the critical and judgmental spirit that often circulates in our midst. It grants people space to grow and time to learn from God's Torah. It acknowledges different roles within the kingdom; one body, many parts. Like our Master's parable of the talents, it recognizes that each person is responsible for that which the LORD has entrusted them, and not every servant has been given the same charge.

Which Laws Apply to Me?

All of God's laws are moral laws, but no one is morally obligated to every one of them. Men cannot keep the law of purification after childbirth. Women cannot be circumcised. Numerous commandments are incumbent upon men but not upon women. Some laws are only for the king of Israel. Others are only for the priesthood. Still others apply to judges, military officers, and so forth. Some laws apply only to "the native born" of Israel, others apply also to the proselyte. How can you be sure which laws apply to you? Study hard, and err on the side of caution. You can't go wrong by being too obedient!

For if thou art able to bear all the yoke of the Lord, thou wilt be perfect; but if thou art not able, what thou art able that do. And concerning food, bear what thou art able; but against that which is sacrificed to idols be exceedingly on thy guard; for it is the service of dead gods. (Didache 6:2-3)

I Disagree!

You may be among the many of Gentiles in the Messianic movement who adamantly disagree with our conclusions. We've already heard from dozens of you. That's OK. We don't claim to be infallible. We could be dead wrong about this, but this position represents our very best and most careful reading of scripture.

We hope that you will recognize, though, that we are still passionate to educate the nations about the value, blessing, and beauty of keeping the Sabbath, the calendar, the dietary laws, tefillin, tzitzit, and all of Torah. That's what we do at FFOZ. Our new HaYesod program is ten weeks of teaching all believers about walking in obedience to Torah. We can agree to disagree on the question of absolute obligation. Now let's get busy with living the Torah out and spreading the message.

(1) D. Thomas Lancaster, Restoration: Returning the Torah of God to the Disciples of Jesus, (Marshfield, MO: 2005), 127-128.
(2) Louis H. Feldmen, "The Omnipresence of the God Fearers," Biblical Archaeological Review 12:5 (September/October 1986): 58-63.
(3) See "Take Hold and Keep the Sabbath," Messiah Journal 101, p. 84.

Related Articles: (Messiah Journal 101 PDF)
One Law and the Messianic Gentile (MJ 101, pg.46)
Take Hold and Keep the Sabbath (MJ 101, pg.54)

Related Blogs:
Reasoning Together
One Simple Verse: Galatians 5:3

About the Author: Boaz Michael is the President and Founder of First Fruits of Zion.