(52) Romans 14 Pt 2: 4 Largely Unknown Reasons the Torah Was Given To Israel

[Rebbe]

PAUL'S LETTER TO THE ROMAN CHRISTIANS (52)
Analytical Commentary on Romans

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS ON ROMANS 14 (Part 2)
FOUR MAJOR LARGELY UNKNOWN REASONS THE TORAH WAS GIVEN TO ISRAEL

Audio Lecture is now available for members: Paul's letter to the Roman Christians: Lecture 52
http://www.bripodcasts.com/Romans/Lecture52.MP3

Copyright © BRI/IMCF 2018 All Rights Reserved Worldwide by Les Aron Gosling,
Messianic Lecturer (BRI/IMCF)


"The cross shows us the seriousness of our sin but it also shows us the immeasurable love of God" -- Billy Graham

"Christ not only died for all. He died for each" Billy Graham

"They asked her (Ruth, wife of Billy Graham) did she ever think about divorce and she said, No, I've never thought of divorce in all these 35 years of marriage, but, she said, I did think of murder a few times."

My previous audio lecture number 51 on Romans ventured near its conclusion into issues involving the Sinai Torah. I decided to stop at a particular point in it because I would have spoken for another hour or more and realised that I had inadvertently over-prepared. So, today I will continue on from where I was before and expand considerably in order to appreciably cover this most important exercise in comprehending vital information concerning the Sinai Torah, but from an aspect concerning which many Christians -- and especially Messianic believers -- have little or zero understanding.

As I have already articulated, the vast majority of scholarly Jewish opinion is that the circular Letter to the Hebrews was written to the believers in Yeshua in the extant Essene sect at Qumran, Damascus and Jerusalem. Thus new light is thrown onto the text in question. After all, until very recently, nobody could say with absolute assurance to whom the circular letter was addressed. Certainly Hebrews were the recipients, but which Hebrews? What sect did they represent, and where did they reside? Who penned this letter? Some of these questions can now be answered, but most cannot. But there have been remarkable scholarly breakthroughs. New research is being added daily to these outstanding questions. In fact, the awesome amount of biblical research currently becoming available is so astonishing we can hardly keep up with it.

But keeping up with it means growing with it too into a better understanding of the contents of the biblical revelation.

The Jewish people have a saying, "The Torah always remains the same, but the ways in which we understand it are continuing to evolve."

So, if this is the case, before we shift gears and analyse the essential certainties of Romans 15, we ought to reflect again on the Sinai Torah before we depart from the essentials of Romans 14.

Legalistic Messianics mainly view Sinai as having a continued necessary observance in all its contents. While we do not now see the applicability of Sinai to our modern New Covenant Messianic Faith, we ought to appreciate why God had brought into an existence the Sinai Covenant and Torah.

BUT BEFORE WE SET COURSE
But before we set course on my final authoritative statement concerning the Sinai Covenant and Torah, please remember there are some essential issues regarding the doctrine of transmigration (metempsychosis) which have recently again resurfaced and need to be recalled.

Notwithstanding the fact that the idea of reincarnation was prevalent in the Second Temple period (Mk 8.27-29) not only in the doctrines of the Pharisees and other sects of the Judaisms (sic) of the day, but it was understood and anticipated by the disciples of Yeshua (Jn 9.1-3) there exist objections to the very idea because of its apparent Hinduistic and Buddhist associations.

What most biblical students fail to grasp is that the doctrine of reincarnation began with the Jews not the Hindu Kush.

There are three points I'd like to make in defense of the belief.

[1] The Hebrew word gilgul (meaning rolling or revolving; the term for reincarnation, or metempsychosis) is derived from galgal (wheel). I will return in a moment to this word and its relevance to the writings of Yaakov (James) the brother of Yeshua.

[2] "SALVATION is of the Jews," as Yeshua the Messiah plainly related, and it is imperative that this should include the proper understanding of all that pertains to salvation.

[3] In addition to point [2] some scholars have recently suggested that the Hindus came to an understanding of salvation in the reincarnation drama from the Jews who established outposts and trading colonies in India, Afghanistan and Kashmir 600 or so years before the birth of Yeshua. This would accord with the period we now know as the Axial Age of Nebuchadnezzar and Jeremiah the prophet. Other scholars are adamant that Israelite economic interests and Israelite theological dogmatism extended into India and Babylon as well as North and South America in the days of King Solomon 1000 BCE, as primitive as such theological comprehension may well have been at that time. Still, one thing for sure, dating the Hindu doctrine of transmigration of the soul to thousands of years into antiquity, as many writers claim, is certainly highly speculative to say the very least!

[4] In a further supplementary understanding to point [3] the corrupt Hindu form of the doctrine first appears with the writings of the Upanishads and the Mahabaratta around the Axial Period of 600 BCE with the advent of Jeremiah into India.

[5] Paul and James were in agreement when it came to transmigration of man's spirit.

In a little understood statement Paul said he was "more than willing to be born again and again until, he says, Messiah be formed in you" (Gal 4.19 Greek). Modern versions, and translations wishing to hide the truth of what Paul was saying, place an undue emphasis on the idea that Paul wanted to give birth over and over again until Messiah was formed in the Christian community. But that is not what he said, or intended to imply. This is one of the few times the KJV translators got it right. Paul, indoctrinated as a Pharisee into an Essene theological position, believed in transmigration.

And so did James!

"The tongue is a fire," wrote Yaakov, "the sum total of injustice. The tongue is so constituted in our members that it defiles the entire body and sets on fire THE WHEEL OF EXISTENCE and is constantly being set on fire of Gehenna" (Jam 3.6 Greek back into Hebrew/Aramaic and thence to English).

In verse 8 James tells us, "The tongue no one in the human race is able to control. It is a restless, unstable evil, full of lethal poison."

Abuse of speech keeps the cycle of rebirths in motion. There cannot be right thinking or right conduct without right speech. This applies as much to the Messianic Community as to the world.

Has Messiah been formed in the Messianic Community yet?

Has Paul been returning again and again, lifetime after lifetime, to serve the people of God? Maybe, maybe not.

One thing for certain in all of this, man is to share in the glory of the Infinite Creative Intelligence that brought us forth in the first place. We are to experience a new body, a spirit body, and a totally new identity. But this body is ultimately nothing but an intensification of our spirit. We will not be naked we will have an exceeding and eternal weight of glory in the intensification of our being.

As we stand before the Dais of God we shall see our spirits released into God's very glory, and we shall partake of that same glory, intensifying our own (and therefore God's) experience of the Self.

In this place the IMCF-- we find ourselves in the flow of the Ruach HaKodesh which I insist IS DECIDEDLY NOT EMOTIONALISM. Then what is it? It is that indefinable quality of the uncreated energy of God pulsating in and through one or more of God's own Elect Firstfruits to accomplish the Work of God.

As God's creations, men and women who finally evolve as God expects them to through a myriad of spirit life-time experiences to the level of absolute spiritual and mental focus, will at that time, be called by God into, by and through, GRACE. The life of the authentic Christian believer is the last life on earth as a human being. It is our last time caught in the wheel of life, or wheel of existence.

GRACE is something none of us can earn, or achieve, or in any way demand. Grace was, and indeed is, God's free imposition of concentrated love in Messiah. If we have entered (been conscripted) into God's Grace we are not saved by our obedience to (or acceptance of) the conditions of some contract or covenant even if it happens to be ludicrously called a covenant of Grace. A covenant or contract, whether new or old is by nature a legal agreement involving two or more parties.

At the level of the Cosmic Messiah we have entered (as Messianic believers), not into covenants, but into promises. On the fleshly level (living as human beings in Grace) we have entered (at that level) into the New Covenant. The Messianic Torah is a Way of Grace for the people of Grace.

What everyone (it seems) fails to comprehend is that a covenant or a contract exists solely because of SIN.

Grace has no part of a contract. But we have entered (as mature children of God) into Messiah in whom no sin dwells.

In the flesh (as human beings called by God to serve HIM) we keep the principles and expectations of the New Covenant. At the mature Cosmic level, in the Spirit, we are looked on by God our Father, as a result of our entrance into Messiah (or rather, Messiah's entrance into us), as being as PURE as He is pure (1 Jn 3.3).

For having a pure heart is all a STATE of mind.

Let us now, having laid the groundwork of GRACE, return to the reason the LAW of God was given to Israel way back at Sinai. Let us progress into the subject proper and keep in mind that the Torah formed the bedrock and the stipulations of the Sinai Covenant just as the blood of Christ formed the bedrock of the New Covenant, and the 1500+ stipulations of the Messianic Torah which we locate in the NT (and as outworked in the exercised FAITH of Yeshua yet the contents of which were also expected to be followed by his students) formed the spiritual ingredients of the INTEGRITY of the New Covenant.

WHY THE LAW WAS GIVEN TO ISRAEL
In Lecture 41 of this series I quoted from an article written in a religious SDA magazine called These Times (Nov 1975, pp 5-8) which I happen to have in my files, entitled Israel's Forfeited Future by Gerald Wheeler. This SDA author is a prominent child of Adventism's disturbing theological aberration known as Replacement Theology and he has written a number of volumes on Adventist heroes of their Faith. To give him credit, Wheeler has a BA in English and two Master's Degrees University of Michigan in Library Science and another from Andrews University in Old Testament. Impressive, but he remains nevertheless in my own view brainwashed into Ellen G. White's treasure trove of non-biblical fantasy. I obtained information about his credentials by accessing warinheavenwaronearth.com.

I quoted his classic Adventist line: "When the Hebrew nation failed Him, the Lord found another people. He transferred the privileges and blessings of His chosen people to the Christian church (see Romans 9-11). The modern country of Israel is only another secular nation. Should it cease to exist, it would not affect God's prophecies to the church. THOSE WHO SEE ISRAEL OR THE MODERN JEWS AS DETERMINING LAST-DAY EVENTS ARE DOOMED TO DISAPPOINTMENT" (page 8 emphasis mine).

In direct contrast to the cultist Wheeler, a more understanding and gentle Bible scholar J. Vernon McGee has noted that Israel has not as yet returned to God even though they have returned to the Land. McGee however does not have God writing the Israelis off.

"It is interesting to note that Israel cannot live in her land today and have peace while she continues to reject God. It is not Russia or the Arabs that are giving Israel so much trouble; it is God. Israel is God's chosen people. He is going to bring them back to their land someday in faith and belief. They are returning to the land today in unbelief, and they do not have peace. This is the evidence of the hand of God in the affairs of the world" (J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Commentary, Vols 1-5: Genesis Through Revelation).

Wheeler has the Jews rejected. McGee was awaiting their repentance and acceptance by God back into His loving arms. McGee knew this predictive fulfillment rested just ahead of us on the prophetic horizon, but he crossed over into the heavenly realms in 1988 and I might add with confidence is already SEEING this event of God's INTENTION because McGee is now presently "out of time" and in another dimension of Continued Life Reality.

McGee knew, as I know, and as thousands and perhaps millions of biblical students realise, Israel will repent and seek the Lord their God. That amazing event is yet future but definitely on the horizon! God still considers Israelis HOLY (Rom 11.11-16) which conflicts with the views of legalists like Wheeler, the disciple of Mrs Ellen G. White (known in some circles affectionately as Mrs Egg White).

But at this point I want to share some thoughts of author Hal Lindsey on the issue of the ultimate purpose of the Sinai Torah. These will not be popular ideas, but I find them quite frankly, refreshingly honest. (And I might just clarify that I am not a Hal Lindsey fan by any means! I have had some major differences of opinion with Lindsey! And I certainly do NOT recommend his books.)

Incidentally, and before I quote him, it may seem as though Lindsey is against the laws and commandments of God, but I must give him due credit for this is really not the case. He would be the first to agree that we all need to honour God by obeying Him. But as to the issue of salvation no amount of law-keeping can award us with eternal life. No, not by any means! Please keep this in mind as we discuss the purpose of the Torah.

We should all know that the Torah was given to habituate human beings into better characters (in the original sense of this word) made in the IMAGE of a Creator God.

Why were the commandments given especially the Ten Commandments? There are a number of reasons because God always is multiconceptual when it comes to His always deliberate intentions in all things. But essentially, the Torah was given to HABITUATE human behaviour in line with God's expectations of character. As it is written:

"The Torah of God is perfect, RESTORING the whole person" (Ps 19.7) or "restoring the person to wholeness." When the Psalmist speaks of the Torah he is referring to the Torah given at Sinai! Jeremiah later wrote Psalm 119. It reinforces the view that the Torah habituates human behaviour (See Jeremiah Lecture 4: The Prophetic Ministry of Jeremiah which gives an appropriate outline of this Psalm).

The purpose of the Torah was to teach human beings to LOVE one another. That is, to LOVE one another according to God's expectations of (His rules of conduct for) humankind. But when Yeshua came to dwell among us he brought with him the FULL Torah that was expected by the rabbinic religious leaders of the first century to accompany the Messiah at his Advent. The Second Temple rabbinic authorities were expecting a NEW Torah, an EXPANDED Torah -- one which dwelt upon the spiritual aspects of human potential and anticipated duty toward self and others -- a Torah that went way beyond the physical aspects of the Sinai Torah of Moses.

"The Torah which a man learns in this world" -- the Mosaic or Sinai Torah -- "is vanity, in comparison of the Torah of the Messiah" (Midrash Kohelet 83.1).

There are other reasons God gave Israel the Torah. He expected Israel as a nation to take the Torah out of Zion and to the world so that humankind would know God's expectations of them. They failed to accomplish this as God desired because God needed to give them His holy Spirit to enable them to fulfill His aim and goal. They were unable to do this of and by themselves. So the prophets speak of a time period when Israel WILL accomplish this by all effort imbued with the Ruach HaKodesh -- see as an example, Isaiah 2.3; Micah 4.2.

It is standard orthodox Jewish traditional belief that God gave the Torah to Israel in the desert simultaneously speaking it out in 70 different language variants (again God speaking those 70 languages coming out of His mouth at the one time) representing all the 70 nations of the earth in order for humankind to possess a right to it. Other rabbis are also in agreement but qualify the view by stressing that only Torah regulations required by Gentiles specifically located in Genesis were to be obeyed by them to establish law courts, to forbid murder, to abstain from sexual immorality and theft, against lying against the innocent, the special revelation for proper observance of the seventh day Sabbath, and the further special revelation to adopt a natural and non-poisonous and healthy dietary code. These qualifications are given by these rabbinic authorities because they acknowledge the Torah of 613 commandments was given ONLY to Israel as a nation. This happens to be my view as well. What is found in Genesis as the first scroll of Torah is required by Gentiles as well as Jewish people.

There are social and personal benefits in the keeping of the entire Torah of Moses for Jewish people even today although the Sinai Covenant as a marriage agreement or contract was torn up by God after Israel continued to play the harlot. I have written extensively on this matter in my series of lectures on The Covenants of God.

But the message of the Torah -- LOVE -- is for all humanity. The ability to live according  to the holy standards of the Torah is promised in the New Covenant given in Jeremiah 31.33,34 (see also Hebrews 10.16 where this same quotation is given with an alignment to the realisation of that Covenant IN Messiah Yeshua).

"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them."

Yes, as expressed by Christian scholar Ray E. Baughman "It is through an inward work of Grace in the heart of believers and through the ministry of the Holy Spirit that it becomes possible" (The Kingdom of God Visualised, 1972, 34). Or, as Paul would assess it, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and we shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal 5.16).

There exist FOUR other more secretive purposes that God had in the giving of the Sinai Torah to His chosen people Israel. And these four intentions are not generally understood by the majority of Christians today.

THE SECRET PURPOSE OF THE TORAH
Hal Lindsey notes that in his opinion there are four reasons God gave Israel the Torah. Lindsey does not grasp that these four factors have been maintained as a great secret by the heavenly agents of the Torah but the very fact that NT scholars find a need to share these four factors with the Christian church establishes without any doubt that wholesale ignorance of these reasons abound in NT circles and cells of Faith. Yet each of these points are in themselves revelatory. All emphasis in this section is Lindsey's. The sub-headings below are my own. So are some comments. Everything within quotation marks are the thoughts and musings of Lindsey.

[1] THE TORAH REVEALS WHAT IS SIN
First, the Law was given to show man what sin is: "Because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for by the Law COMES THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN" (Romans 3:20 NASB). The apostle John would agree. He noted "Sin is the transgression of the Torah" (1 Jn 3.4).

[2] THE TORAH WAS GIVEN TO MAKE MAN SIN ALL THE MORE
Second, the Law was given to make man sin more: "And the Law came in that the transgression might INCREASE; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." (Romans 5:20 NASB). Lindsey writes, "Now I realise that it sounds almost blasphemous to say that God gave something to man that would actually make him sin more. But that is exactly what the Scriptures say. The more a person tries to keep the Law, the more his old sin nature is incited to rebellion. This is absolutely contrary to our human viewpoint, but God says, The sting of death is sin, and THE POWER OF SIN [nature] IS THE LAW. (1 Corinthians 15:56). The sin nature actually gets its power over us when we put ourselves under the principle of Law, because it is a works system that depends upon human strength and merit. The principle of grace depends upon God's power through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Grace is all that God set Himself free to give us through the atoning death of Christ. As someone correctly said, grace means God's Riches At Christ's Expense... The Law forces us to recognize how hopelessly sinful our natures really are. It makes us see that we cannot produce a life acceptable to God by our own human strength, no matter how sincerely we try. Our old sin nature is unreformable. This is why God doesn't even try to reform it. He simply puts a new nature inside of us and commands us to live according to its desires.

[3] TORAH WAS GIVEN BY ANGELS OF GOD TO DRIVE MAN TO DESPAIR
Third, the Law was given to drive man to despair of self-effort: "All who rely on observing the Law are under a curse, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who does not CONTINUE to do EVERYTHING written in the Book of the Law.' Clearly NO ONE is justified before God by the Law, because, 'The righteous will live by faith.' THE LAW IS NOT BASED ON FAITH; on the contrary, The man who does these things will live by them." (Galatians 3:10-12).

God doesn't grade our law-keeping on the curve. The standard is His own absolute righteousness, not man's relative righteousness. Man will not be judged by a Gallup poll at the last judgment. This is why the above Scriptures say that if we are to be justified by human effort, the standard is to continuously keep everything written in the entire Book of the Law. If we break even one point of the Law, we are guilty of breaking it all (James 2:10)...

Inevitably, a person who tries to come to God by keeping the Law, or any other system of self-effort, will invariably come to one of two positions. He will either be driven to despair, as was Paul when he exclaimed, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24 NASB). Or, he will become self-deceived and a hypocrite, as were the Pharisees. The self-deceived externalise the commandments so that they can be brought down to man's level of performance. This in essence is the meaning of religion. As I've mentioned, the common denominator of all religions is the idea that man can gain God's acceptance by human effort and merit... [In] Matthew 23:27-28... Jesus testified of these religious men,"...you outwardly appear righteous to men."

The purpose of the Sermon on the Mount was to rip off this view of religious self-deception and to restore the Law to its full and awful convicting power. Jesus revealed the true purpose of the Law when He demonstrated that God doesn't just judge our external law-keeping, but the motives of our hearts... The Sermon on the Mount, which is simply God's interpretation of the true meaning of the Law, was designed to crush all hope of coming to God by human effort..."

[4] THE TORAH WAS GIVEN TO LEAD US TO FAITH IN MESSIAH
Fourth, the Law was given to lead us to faith in the Messiah. "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith." (Galatians 3:24 NASB) Once the Law has convinced us that we cannot be saved by trying to keep it, or any other system of human merit, then it points us to the One who has paid the penalty for our lawbreaking, the LORD Jesus, the Messiah" (Hal Lindsey, The Road to Holocaust, 1989, 150-153). END QUOTE

This has been quite a lengthy quotation, I admit. But it is full of profound understanding concerning the purpose of the Torah (even though I do confess to having certain issues of disagreement with this gentleman as far as some of his biblical understanding and theology is concerned). Nevertheless, and with that said, Lindsey and I share a common bond of appreciation concerning the Mind of God in respect to the LORD's devising of an astonishing plan of Salvation wherein (for Israel) the Law was given in order for them to fall so that a remnant of Jews could take the Gospel (accompanied with the New Covenant and the new Messianic Torah) to the Gentiles so that -- in my view -- THE ENTIRE WORLD COULD BE INVOLVED IN GOD'S INTENTION to unite everyone back into the Creator, God the Father-Mother of us all.

God never accomplishes anything in half-measures!

In the meantime, however, while the Gospel was largely rejected by the nation of Israel not all of Israel stumbled although the opposite is often taught from Christian pulpits. After all, the Yeshua Messianic Movement and Community was Jewish to begin with. And, true too is the fact, that not all Gentiles in the nations of this world found the righteousness of faith.

God is largely interested at this time only in the progress of His begotten children, the Firstfruits of the general harvest of humanity.

Paul argued his case for Israel's future salvation in this Letter to the Roman Christians, and in this correspondence he warns the Gentiles not to misuse their calling and election against the Chosen People of God. For, if they were to do so, just as God temporarily rejected the nation Israel so that the Gospel could go to the Gentiles in order to solicit envy in the Jews (Rom 11.11) so the Lord of Glory could and would reject the Gentiles by returning Israel to a place of honour in His special program of redemption and Salvation. "Again I ask," says Paul. "Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? NOT AT ALL!" (Rom 11.11a).

The history of the Gentile Church over the past two thousand long years has left a great deal to be desired. God has begun to turn His holy hand back toward His HOLY people. By HOLY I intend an understanding of SANCTIFICATION, the fact of being set apart for holy use. Paul insists that in such an evaluation the Jewish people are still considered by God as HOLY (Rom 11.16).

How Gracious is our God. How close are we to the conclusion of this evil age?

In 1967 the Jews retook Jerusalem, and as I have insisted for over 40+ years, at that point in time the universal church STOPPED GROWING. God was turning His heart back to the estranged yet HOLY people of God. Israel has burst upon the world scene in power and in knowledge. The Gentile world is the recipient of Israeli benevolence in matters of education, medicine, science, technology and social welfare. The whole world benefits enormously from Israel's myriad contributions. Israel remains the bastion of true democratic values in a hostile Arab world seething with a lustful passion for the State's utter destruction.

I have taught for the entirety of this ministry that Israel will be treated generously at the end of the age just prior to the end of days and that even the disUnited Nations will be forced to reevaluate and revalue Israel. This they have now begun to slowly appreciate. The West will yet prosper because of Israeli invention and ingenuity. Of course, at the very end of the age Israel will enter the End of Days and the Antichrist will change world opinion BACK to its original Edomite hostility to Esau's brother Jacob.

Right now we are on the brink of the period of toleration by the world at large toward the State of Israel. As Paul noted, "But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring?" (Rom 11.12).

As to the negative side of the history of the universal Christian church one cannot escape the conclusion that Yeshua appeared to be in dire error when he predicted that his Community of Faith would never cease to exist. One wonders of course how this could be when we are faced with the reality of the chronicles and annals of the Constantinian Church.

The surprising news is that there was a spiritual Community rooted in Jewish thoughtform that has largely escaped the attention of Christian ecclesiastical scholars and it has been in existence for the same length of time as has the universal Constantinian Church. This small band of committed believers in Christ suffered persecution and oftentimes had no choice but to flee civilisation itself living in remote regions of the earth where they could worship the God of All-Grace in peace and comparative safety.

Indeed, not only did it survive the ravages of time and rejection by the world at large, it today continues to contribute to the thinking of the modern Church in creative new theological ventures and premises along with its ongoing educational work of restoration of the long-neglected Jewish thoughtform to the biblical revelation.

It remains a remnant in the true sense of the word for it is a small (almost) insignificant Jewish Work with a restored Jewish faith-based thoughtform which constellates around the worship and praise of the coming great Messiah, Yeshua Nazarene King of the Jews. In fact, this largely hidden and insignificant (by worldly standards) Jewish Work and ministry has understood the fact that the God of Israel has generated His influence on the world through a variety of administrations. In this new administration of Grace this Spirit-dominated Work recognises that the Sinai Covenant has been replaced by an entirely New Covenant which was ratified by THE Christ in his death.

This Work of God, sharing the empowerment of the Spirit of RIGHT KNOWLEDGE, also understands the hidden purposes of God in the original giving of the Sinai Covenant to Israel to REVEAL the human heart to be in dire NEED of the spirit of conversion which would necessitate an obedience to FAITH IN the living Torah, Yeshua. ONLY in the Messiah Yeshua, the living Torah, can SALVATION be found. Salvation cannot be found in literal pages of Torah scripted with lifeless letters. The LIVING WORD of God is SPIRITUAL and definitely not material in any sense though we might find comfort and security and encouragement in being pointed to the God who inspired the Word to be inscribed within those same pages.

Romans 14 is, like the rest of the Letter of Paul to the Roman Christians, filled with certainties. May we be rewarded in our further studious efforts to become more enthralled with those same certainties by which we may live our lives to the full enriched with the blessings that stem from God's Grace.

THIS CONCLUDES LECTURE 52