What Is Torah?

Weak Understanding

What is Torah? Of course, everybody has an answer to that question. “It means Law.” “It means instructions.” “It’s the Law of Moses.”

That is all true. The thing is, it’s not until you really start asking questions that the real understanding deficit is exposed:

“Does Torah justify us?” “Are we saved by obedience?” “Is Torah our righteousness?” “Why do these rules exist?” “What is the ‘Spirit of the Law?’” “What does being ‘born again’ have to do with Torah?” “If we have to obey the Law to be saved, does that mean I can’t be saved uncircumcised?” “Didn’t the Holy Spirit replace the Law?” “What role does Torah play in the New Covenant?” “How do we know it’s our god’s will that we keep Torah?” “Did Paul teach against Torah?”

All of a sudden, that sharp, clear picture started to get a little blurry, right? Many of us don’t have all of those answers. Fewer still can answer these questions Biblically. But Torah is the foundation of the entire Bible, and, as such, the more and better we understand it, the better we understand everything else.

So, if you don’t understand ANYTHING else in the Bible at all, this is the one thing that you MUST learn and learn well.

The Word ‘Torah’

Depending on the exact manuscripts of the Old Testament you look at, the word (pronounced) “torah” appears about 220 times from Genesis to Malachi. Depending on your version of the Bible, you’ll see this word translated into such things as law, instruction, teaching, custom and ruling. And, it actually IS all of these things, and maybe even a little more.

Without turning this study into a simple word study, let’s just take a QUICK look at a Hebrew lexicon to see what Torah actually means. Then I promise, we’ll back away from the technical aspect of it and delve into Scriptural reference and practical application.

תּוֹרָה n.f.—cstr. ‏תּוֹרַת‎; sf. ‏תּוֹרָתִי‎; pl. ‏תּוֹרֹת‎; cstr. ‏תּוֹרוֹת‎; sf. ‏תּוֹרֹתָיו—1. instruction, teaching, a. of Y., the prophetic word Is 110, given by priests Dt 1711 Jr 1818, given by Y. to an individual Jb 2222. b. of human Ps 781, given for education, enlightenment, wisdom Pr 18 31. 2a. (collection, summary of) instruction, (code of) law, expressing the will of Y., and having binding force, the Torah Ex 2412 Dt 15; תּוֹרַת י׳ law of Y. 2 K 1031, סֵפֶר הַתּוֹרָה document of the law Dt 2861. b. pl. laws, in general Is 245, of Y. Gn 265, given at Sinai Lv 2646. c. law, regulation, rule, governing or concerning something in particular: the burnt offering Lv 62, the Nazirite Nm 613, leprosy Lv 1457. 3. decree, will of Y., concerning death of humans Si. 414. 4. perh. custom, manner of humans 2 S 719. → ירה III teach. “תּוֹרָה,” CDCH, 485.

That is the short and sweet definition of Torah. For those of you who want to get way deeper, I’ve addended a slightly heavier lexical entry to the end of this study. Feel free to spend the next week of your life going through it all.

But look at some of the meaning we see associated with this word already: education, enlightenment and wisdom. So, Torah certainly IS law and it is instruction, but what we want to understand about it is not just that it IS instruction, but much more importantly what that instruction teaches us, what it binds us to, and why it’s there in the first place. When we understand this, the rest of the Bible starts to make pretty perfect sense!

I Know What it MEANS, Now – What Is It?

Exodus 13:9 And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the TORAH of YHWH may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand YHWH brought you out of Egypt.

“Torah” in simplest terms describes all of the teachings, laws, instructions commandments and anything else the Creator (YHWH) gave His people to teach them what His will is. In other words, it’s what He wants US to DO. When a father raises a son and prepares him for success in life, this IS “Torah.”

We will NOT be going through every single thing the Bible says about Torah in this study, but I will try to give you enough highlights for the concept to start to materialize in your mind.

Exodus 24:12 Now YHWH said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the TORAH and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.”

So, the Ten Commandments were Torah. But is that all of Torah? Not at all. Because other commandments which were NOT carved in stone that day were also called “Torah.”

Leviticus 6:9 Command Aaron and his sons, saying, “This is the TORAH for the burnt offering: the burnt offering itself shall remain on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire on the altar is to be kept burning on it.”

What’s more – Torah is “righteousness.” (That’s a concept we’ll examine in greater detail later on.) Torah separates us from the nations (people) around us.

Deuteronomy 4:8 Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole TORAH which I am setting before you today?

While Torah is instruction, it also happens to be a BINDING LAW to which we must adhere is we are to be part of the Father’s Kingdom.

Deuteronomy 17:11 According to the terms of the TORAH which they teach you, and according to the verdict which they tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left.

And His intent on us keeping His Law is a point we see reiterated over and over again – often quite emphatically.

Deuteronomy 27:26  Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this TORAH by doing them. And all the people shall say, “Amen.”

Psalms 119:1 How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the TORAH of YHWH.

Proverbs 28:9 He who turns away his ear from listening to the TORAH, even his prayer is an abomination.

I’ll stop with the sound bites for now. Hopefully they make the point clear: YHWH wants His people – rather He DEMANDS of His people that they not just hear and learn Torah, but that they live in obedience of it practicing his instructions day in and day out.

The Objective of Torah / The “Spirit of the Law”

Apostle Paul called Torah a “teacher,” which it is. The word means “instruction” after all. But if Torah teaches us, what is the LESSON we are supposed to be learning? You see, these are rules, but they aren’t designed to just be blindly followed. We are supposed to be developing and growing because of these rules. And, Paul also teaches us that.

Romans 10:4 For Messiah is the GOAL OF THE TORAH for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Messiah was perfect. And how did he BECOME perfect? He practiced Torah. Thus, Messiah is the GOAL of every one of us. Why do we follow him? Why do we strive to walk as he walked? What does it even MEAN to “walk as he walked?” By now the picture should be coming together some.

Messiah was our perfect example of how to walk in Torah. He did it better than anybody. Thus, he learned the LESSON of Torah and then he even taught others what that lesson was.

Matthew 22:37 You shall love YHWH your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.

Why then do we have Torah? What is the lesson of Torah? Messiah just broke the whole thing down to two commandments, and these two have the same objective: LOVE. Torah teaches us to love YHWH and to love one another. And that’s it! That is the heart of Torah or rather “the spirit of the Law.” The Torah – the Law of Moses – teaches us love.

You and I think we already know what love is. We watch rom-com movies, or we read romance novels or we listen to sappy music and that teaches us one kind of love, but that is humanity’s idea of love. Torah, on the other hand, teaches us our Creator’s kind of love which is very different from our own. It doesn’t come naturally to us, and society doesn’t teach it to us. This is precisely why we need instruction (aka Torah)!

So now you understand (hopefully) the difference between the LETTER and the SPIRIT of the Law. The difference is blind obedience as opposed to obeying as a form of LOVE. This isn’t just some arbitrary obstacle course of legality given to test our faith. It’s the instruction of a Father who wants His children to know how to love Him and one another as well.

The Law Never “Saved” Anybody

Apostle Paul wrote a LOT about the Law (Torah). And as Apostle Peter noticed nearly 2,000 years ago, people who don’t study (unlearned) have a hard time understanding Paul’s letters, so the think he’s teaching against obedience (when in reality he is not).

2 Peter 3:15 Regard the patience of our Master as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of lawlessness and fall from your own steadfastness.

It would be well beyond the focus of this study to address the many “proof verses” these “untaught and unstable” people use to accuse Paul of teaching against Torah, but there is one that we will look at because it serves our immediate purpose of understanding what Torah really is and what role it plays in our lives today. With this goal in mind, let’s analyze a couple of seemingly contradictory statements of Paul’s which are just one chapter apart.

Romans 2:13 For it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before YHWH, but the doers of the Law will be justified.

Romans 3:20 Because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

“So does the Law justify a man or does it not, Paul?!”

“Justify” is a bit of a legal term. It means “to make just.” And what does it mean to be “just?” That means being found blameless before a certain body of Law which defines guilt. Then there’s another legal term we want to learn in the Bible, and that is “righteousness.” When we talk about being blameless before the Law, we are actually defining this very word: right-eous. If you are blameless, then you are on the RIGHT / JUST side of the Law. The question above then becomes, “If I obey the Law, will that MAKE me righteous?”

That really is a trick question if you go back and look at it more closely. Obeying the law will KEEP you blameless, but it cannot MAKE you blameless once you are already guilty! If you rob a bank today and then obey every law there is perfectly for the next ten years before the police finally catch up to you, guess what: you are STILL going to jail!

In that case, does (obedience to) Torah have the power to atone for your sins? Not a chance. If it did, we would have never needed the sacrifice of Messiah as atonement. MAKING us just is what only he has ever been able to do.

But once we have been MADE blameless and our sins are erased, obedience does KEEP us blameless. Remember what Messiah said, “Go and SIN NO MORE.” In other words, “I’ve paid your speeding tickets. Now STOP SPEEDING!”

MAKING somebody just is really what being “justified” means in this context. But once you have been justified, then it is your responsibility to live righteously by not breaking the Law of your Maker. You did that in the past, and that’s why you needed to be “saved” in the first place. Now that you are “saved” and have been justified and need to live in obedience / righteousness, this is where the Holy Spirit enters into the equation in the New Covenant that Messiah mediated between our Creator and ourselves.

The Transposition of the Torah

“Now we’re under a new covenant. It’s not like that old one Moses was under. Ours isn’t about laws; it’s about grace and faith. We are now guided by the Holy Spirit!”

Wrong. Well, mostly wrong.

You’ve heard this doctrine, at least you have if you’ve ever been a Christian for a day in your life. But let’s look at exactly what the New Covenant is and see if Law is any part of it. Let’s also look at the Holy Spirit which is a very integral part of our beloved “new covenant” and see HOW it guides us today.

Jeremiah 31:31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares YHWH, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares YHWH. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares YHWH, “I will put My TORAH within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

So here is the very prophecy of our New Covenant and right there is the Torah – literally at the “heart” of the whole thing! And when we see the same prophecy reflected in Ezekiel’s eye, we’ll also see how the Holy Spirit is woven practically right into Jeremiah’s very words.

Ezekiel 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their god.

And what exactly is the Prophet saying here? We’re going to be given a new Spirit, and instead of Torah being carved in stone, it will be written on our hearts. This will be done so that we will OBEY the things the Almighty commanded us.

There it is. That IS the New Covenant. I understand that this isn’t the “plan of salvation” you were taught in church, but it IS the one taught in the Bible. And that is how it works. We are cleansed of our past sins and we stop sinning from then on. We are justified and then we live righteously according to the Torah that the Holy Spirit writes on our hearts. We then walk according to the LETTER of the Law as we learn the SPIRIT of the Law, which is love.

Conclusion

The longest chapter in the Bible (Ps. 119) is all about Torah. Torah is discussed from Genesis to Revelation. I have an entire teaching which focuses on just what Messiah taught about Torah, and he said quite a bit. Every time somebody was judged / punished by YHWH in the Bible, it was because of the same thing – because they BROKE TORAH.

There are books and entire multi-volume commentary series which are written all about this one thing: Torah. And certainly in my humble study, I’ve only scratched the surface! But my goal here was to give you the Cliff’s Notes version of Torah. This was just a small boost to help you START learning all that Torah really is, how beautiful and purposeful it is, the vast history of cases of both obedience and disobedience we find in the Bible, the constant patience with which YHWH has always called us back to Torah (repentance), and even that Messiah’s whole ministry involved finding the “lost sheep” and bringing them back (to Torah).

Did I do the subject justice? Absolutely not. There is just too much that can and rightfully SHOULD be said about Torah. But if this at least gets you to look a little more deeply, then maybe it was worth my while to write and yours to read. And if you want to keep going, by all means – go on to the Addendum and start looking up verse after verse of all that Torah is and means.