lisa-s.ca

Did Yeshua teach different commandments than YHVH? I was shocked recently to discover some people believe that He did, although, on further reflection I realized that that was a pretty common belief. If it wasn’t, more of us might keep Torah.

A while ago I read something that used John 15:10 as a sort of proof text for this belief. The passage says If you keep my commands, you will stay in my love — just as I have kept my Father’s commands and stay in his love. Now, taken just by itself, I suppose that could be equated to saying that there are different commandments given by the Father and the Son. I find that to be untrue for a number of reasons.

To begin with, we would have to ask what Yeshua’s commands were. From this passage we can’t conclude that they were any different than YHVH’s. Based on this passage they could have been the same as the Father’s, different from them or a subset of them. It’s also possible He could have expanded on them or explained them in more detail. The point is, based on this passage alone, we don’t know.

In John 10:30, Yeshua states I and the Father are one. Now, if Father and Son are one, would it not follow that their commands would be the same? Even if they are not the same, they can’t be in conflict with each other. Yeshua could not possibly be asking His followers to do anything contrary to YHVH’s commands.

The notion that Yeshua’s commands were contrary to YHVH’s wouldn’t make sense anyway since Yeshua obeyed YHVH’s commands. If He were asking his followers to disobey or do something contrary to YHVH’s commands, He wouldn’t have been keeping his own commands. That is if He were commanding they not obey a certain law (in Torah), He would have been keeping that law and at the same teaching against it. We know Yeshua could not have been a hypocrite.

Furthermore, if Yeshua and YHVH are one, it would follow that what Yeshua said would be the same as what YHVH would say. The opposite would also be true. That is, what YHVH says would have to be in full agreement with what Yeshua said. Essentially, what the two say must be the same. That is, unless Yeshua was lying, but then He would have sinned, couldn’t be the Messiah and none of this would matter.

Finally, let’s look at what Yeshua said when He was accused of casting out demons in the name of Ba’al Zibbul (the ruler of demons).

But he called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan expel Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom can’t survive; and if a household is divided against itself, that household can’t survive. So if Satan has rebelled against himself and is divided, he can’t survive either; and that’s the end of him. (Mark 3:23-26)

So, since YHVH and Yeshua are one, YHVH’s kingdom is essentially belongs to both of them, and if it divided it won’t survive and neither will their household. If YHVH divides against himself, it will be the end of Him as well. Remember YHVH and Yeshua are one, so if they are not in agreement, they are divided against themselves.

Now, since Yeshua’s commandments cannot differ from YHVH’s, they must be the same as His. This makes sense in light of the fact that we are to imitate Yeshua and He lived a Torah observant life. Additionally, in everything He did, Yeshua always pointed to His Father (YHVH). It would only follow that He would point to His Father’s commands in His own.

About six months ago, a friend and I were having a conversation about “entertainment centre” churches and evangelism without discipleship. We don’t agree on everything (who does?), but in principle we both believe in doing what the Bible says. It came around to the fact that while there are some people who truly love YHVH and want to serve Him, they try to go about it their own way, rather than YHVH’s way.

We should serve and worship YHVH the way He wants to be served and worshiped, which can be found in the Bible. I think that all too often we try to follow YHVH’s way in our own way.

Most christians will agree that we should do the following:

Love YHVH with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

Love our neighbour as ourself. (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.)

Live as Yeshua lived.

Keep the 10 commandments. (On this, there is more variance.)

At the same time. They will argue that the Torah has been abolished, which it hasn’t:

But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the Torah to become void. – Luke 16:17

“Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. – Matthew 5:17

Does it follow that we abolish Torah by this trusting? Heaven forbid! On the contrary, we confirm Torah. – Romans 3:31

Furthermore, all four things above are rooted in Torah. Yeshua himself said the following regarding the first two on the list:

“Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that sums up the teaching of the Torah and the Prophets. – Matthew 7:12

He told him, “‘You are to love YHVH your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’  This is the greatest and most important mitzvah.  And a second is similar to it, `You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’ All of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot.” – Matthew 22:37-40

Living like Yeshua lived would require following Torah since He Himself lived according to Torah. In fact, He completed it (lived and interpreted it perfectly), as He said in Matthew 5:17 (above).

As for the 10 commandments, they are a part of Torah, as are the first two commands (Love YHVH & love your neighbour).  In fact, Yeshua says that on these two commands hinge the rest of the Torah and the Prophets. Take, for example the 10 commandments, the first four concern loving YHVH and the last six concern loving your neighbour.

This concept could easily be extended to the rest of Torah. In fact, Rabbi Hillel is attributed to have made a very similar comment to the ones Yeshua made in Matthew 7:12 and Matthew 22:37. He is supposed to have said That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Go and study it. Obviously that was not a new concept brought by Yeshua, rather one that was probably common knowledge at the time.

As can be seen, Torah tells us how to love YHVH and our neighbour. The problem is that when we remove Torah from the picture, we try to come up with our own ways to do YHVH’s way. This, I think, has led to a lot of division and strife. It has also led to the development of “holidays” such as Christmas and Easter which are not Biblical and are, in fact, pagan. Reality is that Sunday worship and Christmas, amongst other things, were created by the Catholic church to separate the “Christians” from their Jewish roots.

That isn’t to say that the exact solution to absolutely every problem is found explicitly in Torah or that it dictates exactly how we are to live, down to every minor detail, but rather that it was given by YHVH to be our guide. As for me, I choose to serve and worship YHVH his way rather than my own way. What about you?

To veil (cover) or not to veil. That is the question, or is it? I don’t think so, or at least, it’s not the only question. While whether or not covering is required is important, an equally important and often ignored question is who is supposed to cover. The section of the Bible that talks about head coverings is 1 Corinthians 11:1-16:

1 try to imitate me, even as I myself try to imitate the Messiah.

2 Now I praise you because you have remembered everything I told you and observe the traditions just the way I passed them on to you. 3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is the Messiah, and the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of the Messiah is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies wearing something down over his head brings shame to his head, 5 but every woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled brings shame to her head – there is no difference between her and a woman who has had her head shaved. 6 For if a woman is not veiled, let her also have her hair cut short; but if it is shameful for a woman to wear her hair cut short or to have her head shaved, then let her be veiled. 7 For a man indeed should not have his head veiled, because he is the image and glory of God, and the woman is the glory of man. 8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man; 9 and indeed man was not created for the sake of the woman but woman for the sake of the man. 10 The reason a woman should show by veiling her head that she is under authority has to do with the angels. 11 Nevertheless, in union with the Lord neither is woman independent of man nor is man independent of woman; 12 for as the woman was made from the man, so also the man is now born through the woman. But everything is from God. 13 Decide for yourselves: is it appropriate for a woman to pray to God when she is unveiled? 14 Doesn’t the nature of things itself teach you that a man who wears his hair long degrades himself? 15 But a woman who wears her hair long enhances her appearance, because her hair has been given to her as a covering. 16 However, if anyone wants to argue about it, the fact remains that we have no such custom, nor do the Messianic communities of God.

I think that this passage refers to a separate head covering/veil that is not the hair. Substituting long hair in verse 6 is one reason why I don’t see it being the hair. The verse would then read “For if a woman does not have long hair, let her also have her hair cut short…” If the woman already has short hair, it doesn’t make sense to cut it short since it’s already short.

Other reasons include the fact that when taking a Nazarene (?) vow, a man would be required not to cut his hair, and therefore have long hair. Again, if long hair was the covering and men were to be uncovered, this wouldn’t make much sense. And finally, one does not have to be a believer to have long hair (it is given by nature), and not all believing women are able to have long hair. (Plus, there is also the debate of what is considered long hair.)

Another thing to note is that verse 16 probably only refers to verse 15, not everything previous to it. If it really was about everything previous to it, why would it have been included in the letter at all? So, (not just because of this), I would have to conclude that the passage is speaking about a separate head covering/veil to be worn over the hair.

The bigger question, for me is exactly who this verse is referring to. It’s pretty apparent that it is talking about, at least, married women (verse 3). So, married women are to cover. The CJB switches from using wife to woman after verse 3, while other translations use woman throughout. I would think, reading the book it is talking to married women, but I’m not really sure about that.

Regardless, there isn’t anything wrong (so far as I can tell) with being an unmarried woman and wearing a head covering, even if it isn’t required. So, if you’re looking for head coverings, or just want to try some, Miss Rachel at A City On a Hill is having a Cover Your Hair giveaway. Cover Your Hair has a wide variety of head coverings, including tichels, wide headbands, snoods, hats, and headbands with tails. You can visit coveryourhair.com to see their selection. There’s really something there for everyone.

Anyway, your thoughts on head coverings? Who is required to wear them?