What then shall we say?!

When the Messiah forgave people of their sins he told them to “go and sin no more”.

Joh 8:10-11 TS2009 10 And יהושע, straightening up and seeing no one but the woman, said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Did no one condemn you?” 11 And she said, “No one, Master.” And יהושע said to her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

Joh 5:14 Afterward יהושע found him in the Set-apart Place, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, so that no worse matter befalls you.”

So we know that we aren’t supposed to sin, but what is sin?

1Jn 3:4 Everyone that commits sin transgresses the law, because sin is the transgression of the law. 

Sin isn’t whatever we deem as inappropriate in our own perception of things but what the Heavenly Father has told us not to do. Another aspect is that of the things that we are told to do, but fail to do.

1Jn 2:3-7 TS2009 3 And by this we know that we know Him, if we guard His commands. 4 The one who says, “I know Him,” and does not guard His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever guards His Word, truly the love of Elohim has been perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 The one who says he stays in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked. 7 Beloved, I write no fresh command to you, but an old command which you have had from the beginning. The old command is the Word which you heard from the beginning.

The word which you heard from the beginning? What word is that? John was Jewish! And guess what, the Messiah was born and raised Jewish! The words and instructions they heard from the beginning are written in the first five books of the Bible known as the Torah which means instruction. Those words are the Heavenly Father’s rules of the house no matter if we like them or not. They are his rules. His house, his rules. And what are his rules? His rules are the laws or commands that you can find written within the Holy Scriptures. Western culture typically imagines the Heavenly Father with a scowl on his face ready to smite anyone who breaks his law. Well, his house rules are in place for many good reasons many of which we still don’t fully understand. Not understanding a law is no excuse for breaking it however.

The English word law comes from the Greek word nomos which was translated from the Hebrew word Torah, which is more accurately defined as instructions. The root meaning of Torah derives from yarah (Strong’s #3384) meaning; ‘to shoot out the hand as pointing, to point, to show, indicate’, to teach, instruct’, ‘to lay foundations’, ‘to sprinkle, to water’, ‘to shoot , as an arrow’.  Sins, in effect are the arrows shot by our lives that miss the target in various degrees, either intentionally or unintentionally.  According to Deuteronomy 11:26-28, the law or Torah brings blessings if followed and curses if not (blessings are those that add to the fullness of our lives, curses are those that reduce the fullness of our lives). These can more properly be understood as from a loving father to his children.  Children love their earthly father and prosper when they listen to him and follow his instructions (obey), and our earthly fathers love in turn is warmed when we do so.  Is it any different with our Heavenly Father? When we live outside of his rules or “laws” we break his law making us lawless. Sin!

If you break the speed limit and realize it, does that mean that you should go wild? Steal, kill and destroy whatever we want because we broke one rule?

Rom 6 1 What, then, shall we say? Shall we continue in sin, to let favour increase? 2 Let it not be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were immersed into Messiah יהושע were immersed into His death? 4 We were therefore buried with Him through immersion into death, that as Messiah was raised from the dead by the esteem of the Father, so also we should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have come to be grown together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also of the resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was impaled with Him, so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, to serve sin no longer. 7 For he who has died has been made right from sin. 8 And if we died with Messiah, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Messiah, having been raised from the dead, dies no more – death no longer rules over Him. 10 For in that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives to Elohim. 11 So you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to Elohim in Messiah יהושע our Master. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, to obey it in its desires, 13 neither present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to Elohim as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to Elohim. 14 For sin shall not rule over you, for you are not under the law but under favour. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Torah but under favour? Let it not be! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves servants for obedience, you are servants of the one whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? 17 But thanks to Elohim that you were servants of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became servants of righteousness. 19 I speak as a man, because of the weakness of your flesh. For even as you did present your members as servants of uncleanness, and of lawlessness resulting in lawlessness, so now present your members as servants of righteousness resulting in set-apartness. 20 For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit, therefore, were you having then, over which you are now ashamed? For the end thereof is death. 22 But now, having been set free from sin, and having become servants of Elohim, you have your fruit resulting in set-apartness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the favourable gift of Elohim is everlasting life in Messiah יהושע our Master.

What is the opposite of sin?  It is righteousness?  Look at vs. 18 again:  And having been set free from sin, you became servants of righteousness.   And again in vs. 20:  For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.   We either serve sin, or we serve righteousness.

The apostle Paul understood this concept very clearly as we can see in much of his writings.

Rom 3:31  Do we then nullify the Torah through the belief? Let it not be! On the contrary, we establish the Torah.

Rom 7:7  What, then, shall we say? Is the Torah sin? Let it not be! However, I did not know sin except through the Torah. For also the covetousness I knew not if the Torah had not said, “You shall not covet.” Exo_20:17, Deu_5:21. 

Rom 7:12  So that the Torah truly is set-apart, and the command set-apart, and righteous, and good. 

Many misunderstand the writings of Paul and have for hundreds of years. How do we know how to properly interpret what Paul has written? Let’s look to Peter.

2Pe 3:14  So then, beloved ones, looking forward to this, do your utmost to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15  and reckon the patience of our Master as deliverance, as also our beloved brother Sha’ul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him, 16  as also in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these matters, in which some are hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the other Scriptures. 17  You, then, beloved ones, being forewarned, watch, lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the delusion of the lawless, 18  but grow in the favour and knowledge of our Master and Saviour יהושע Messiah. To Him be the esteem both now and to a day that abides. Aměn. 

Isa 43:25 “I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and remember your sins no more.

The quote above regarding blotting out is referenced a few times in the Scriptures but most don’t know or understand the original context of what it is referring to. It’s about infidelity to the father and his rules. I.E. Cheating on him!

Col 2:14 having blotted out that which was written by hand against us – by the dogmas – which stood against us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the stake.

This blotting out is in reference to…

Num 5:11-31 11 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, 12 “Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, and say to them, ‘When any man’s wife turns aside and has committed a trespass against him, 13 and a man has intercourse with her, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it is concealed that she has defiled herself, and there was no witness against her, nor was she caught, 14 and a spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or a spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife although she has not defiled herself, 15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. And he shall bring the offering for her, one-tenth of an ĕphah of barley flour. He is not to pour oil on it or put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, an offering for remembering, for bringing crookedness to remembrance. 16 And the priest shall bring her near, and shall make her stand before יהוה  17 And the priest shall take set-apart water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the Dwelling Place and put it into the water. 18 And the priest shall make the woman stand before יהוה, and shall uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy, while the priest holds in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 And the priest shall make her swear, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness under your husband’s authority, be free from this bitter water that brings a curse. 20 “But if you have turned aside under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you” – 21 then the priest shall make the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman – “יהוה make you a curse and an oath among your people, when יהוה makes your thigh waste away and your belly swell, 22 and this water that causes the curse shall go into your inward parts, and make your belly swell and your thigh waste away.” And the woman shall say, “Amĕn, amĕn.” 23 And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and shall blot them out with the bitter water and shall wipe them off into the bitter water, 24 and shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter. 25 And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, and shall wave the offering before יהוה, and bring it to the slaughter-place. 26 And the priest shall take a hand filled with the offering, as its remembrance offering, and burn it on the slaughter-place, and afterward make the woman drink the water. 27 And when he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has defiled herself and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that brings the curse shall enter her and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall waste away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be clear and shall conceive children. 29 This is the Torah of jealousy, when a wife turns aside under her husband’s authority and defiles herself, 30 or when a spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, and he becomes jealous of his wife. Then he shall make the woman stand before יהוה, and the priest shall do to her all this Torah.

It may sound weird to many but the church family is the bride of the Messiah! We are in the role of the bride to the bridegroom. GOD said “…I was a husband unto them…” (Jeremiah 23:3)

Isa 44:22 TS2009 “I shall wipe out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I shall redeem you.”

Now you should be able to better understand why the Messiah had to drink the bitter drink at the crucifixion. (For a more in depth study on this subject, read the article titled “The Cup”.)  The Messiah took our punishment from us (the guilty bride) as our redeemer if we accept him and turn from our old sinful ways. His actions have removed us from the punishment of our sins (the law of sin and death) not from the law itself (law, commands, Torah, instruction). Remember It does not say the “cursed Law”, but “the curse of the Law”. For the law to have been done away with, the Heavenly Father would have had to do away with himself and all creation in the process. Why you might be asking? Because the law is representative of who the father is. In fact you might say it is him!

Joh 1:1 TS2009 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim.

This doesn’t, I repeat, does not mean saying a short scripted line in a prayer that is representative of a given denomination’s belief structure and continuing to live the same as you always have but going to church every once in a while. It means that you change what you do and how you live to represent the king! Not being subject to sin but being subject to the rules of the Heavenly Father!

Joh 3:36  “He who believes in the Son possesses everlasting life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of Elohim remains on him.” 

And what did the Messiah say about the law being done away with?

Mat 5:17-19 17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to complete. 18 “For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one yod or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done. 19 “Whoever, then, breaks one of the least of these commands, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the reign of the heavens; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens.

You will hear many exclaim “But we are under the new covenant not the old.”Many today aren’t taught what the new or renewed covenant is or where you can read of its prophecy. If you have been taught replacement theology please pay attention to whom the covenant is made with.

Jer 31:31-36 31 “See, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “when I shall make a renewed covenant with the house of Yisra’ĕl and with the house of Yehuḏah, 32 not like the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I strengthened their hand to bring them out of the land of Mitsrayim, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares יהוה. 33 “For this is the covenant I shall make with the house of Yisra’ĕl after those days, declares יהוה: I shall put My Torah in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts. And I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. 34 “And no longer shall they teach, each one his neighbour, and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know יהוה,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares יהוה. “For I shall forgive their crookedness, and remember their sin no more.” 35 Thus said יהוה, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the laws of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, and its waves roar – יהוה of hosts is His Name: 36 “If these laws vanish from before Me,” declares יהוה, “then the seed of Yisra’ĕl shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.”

Mal 3:6 “For I am יהוה, I shall not change, and you, O sons of Yaʽaqoḇ, shall not come to an end.

If we believe and obey then we are grafted into Israel. Israel is all who believe and follow the GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Paul also spoke of this.

Rom 11:17  And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, have been grafted in among them, and came to share the root and fatness of the olive tree, 

Rom 11:18  do not boast against the branches. And if you boast, remember: you do not bear the root, but the root bears you! 

Rom 11:19  You shall say then, “The branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 

Rom 11:20  Good! By unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by belief. Do not be arrogant, but fear. 

Rom 11:21  For if Elohim did not spare the natural branches, He might not spare you either. 

You will hear many argue that the laws are only for the Jews. What does Scripture actually say?

Mal 4:4 “Remember the Torah of Mosheh, My servant, which I commanded him in Ḥorĕḇ for all Yisra’ĕl – laws and right-rulings.

Exo 12:49  “There is one Torah for the native-born and for the stranger who sojourns among you.” 

Lev 24:22  ‘You are to have one right-ruling, for the stranger and for the native, for I am יהוה your Elohim.’ ” 

Num 15:16  One Torah and one right-ruling is for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.’ ” 

Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the entire matter: Fear Elohim and guard His commands, for this applies to all mankind! 

Mat 19:16-17  And see, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good shall I do to have everlasting life?” 17  And He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except One – Elohim. But if you wish to enter into life, guard the commands.”

Mat 7:21-23  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master, Master,’ shall enter into the reign of the heavens, but he who is doing the desire of My Father in the heavens. 22  “Many shall say to Me in that day, ‘Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and done many mighty works in Your Name?’ 23  “And then I shall declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness!’

Eph 5:1-8 1 Become, then, imitators of Elohim as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Messiah also has loved us, and gave Himself for us, a gift and an offering to Elohim for a sweet-smelling fragrance. 3 But whoring and all uncleanness, or greed of gain, let it not even be named among you, as is proper among set-apart ones – 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For this you know, that no one who whores, nor unclean one, nor one greedy of gain, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the reign of Messiah and Elohim. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these the wrath of Elohim comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partakers with them. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Master. Walk as children of light –