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Q3. What does Paul mean in 1 Tim 1:9 saying ;…the law or Torah is for the lawless......not for the righteous? True or False?

A3.

1Ti 1:9-11
(9) knowing this: that Torah is not laid down for a righteous being, but for the lawless and unruly, for the wicked and for sinners, for the wrong-doers and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, (10) for those who whore, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and for whatever else that is contrary to sound teaching, (11) according to the esteemed Good News of the blessed Elohim which was entrusted to me.

Before we start, let us see what Paul has to say about Torah in his other letters and then look at these verses in perspective.

Rom 2:12-16
(12) For as many as sinned without Torah shall also perish without Torah, and as many as sinned in the Torah shall be judged by the Torah. (13) For not the hearers of the Torah are righteous in the sight of Elohim, but the doers of the law1 shall be declared right. Footnote: 1Mt. 7:21-27, James 2:14-24. (14) For when gentiles, who do not have the Torah, by nature do what is in the Torah, although not having the Torah, they are a Torah to themselves, (15) who show the work of the Torah written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or even excusing, (16) in the day when Elohim shall judge the secrets of men through Y'shua Messiah, according to my Good News.

Rom 3:28-31
(28) For we reckon that a man is declared right by faith without works of Torah. (29) Or is He the Elohim of the Jews only, and not also of the gentiles? Yea, of the gentiles also, (30) since it is one Elohim who shall declare right the circumcised (Jews) by faith and the uncircumcised (Gentiles) through faith. (31) Do we then nullify the Torah through the belief? Let it not be! On the contrary, we establish the Torah.1 Footnote: 1See 7:12.

Y’shua said it in Matt 7:21, James said it in James 2:14-14 and Paul said it here in Rom 2:13; you will be declared righteous by doing the Torah. How can it be, I thought salvation is dependant of Faith and Grace ONLY! The missing link here is to know and understand that Messiah is in the Torah and to know Him (condition mentioned in Matt 7) is to search the Scripture to get to know Him. The other missing link is to become like Messiah, you can only achieve this by DOING things, it is not passive. The truth that links these two thoughts is the FACT that your SALVATION starts through FAITH in Messiah and your relationship of love is expressed through doing and keeping His Commandments.

Joh 14:21
(21) He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.

Rev 14:11-12
(11) “And the smoke of their torture goes up forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night, those worshipping the beast and his image, also if anyone receives the mark of his name.” (12) Here is the endurance of the set-apart ones,1 here are those guarding the commands of Elohim and the belief of Y’shua.

The Jews do things and overlooked Messiah and do not know Him. They do things blind and mechanically and miss the Life in front of their eyes when they study Torah. The other extreme that also miss the point is to erase the Torah from your believes but it is actually the foundation of the House of Elohim. You them build on it, laying down the Cornerstone, Y’shua, and then the stones of knowing Him and becoming like Him. The House does not consist of only one stone without a foundation, no, it needs the foundation first, and knowing Who Messiah is and then through Faith lays the Cornerstone, the most important stone. If you build without this Stone, your house will also crumble. There are two driving motives for believers to help them not to miss the mark. The first is to want to KNOW HIM, to study His Word and learn the Truth. The other motive is to BECOME LIKE HIM.

To become like Him is to know WWJD in any situation. Fear not, because you have His Spirit inside of you to help you in both areas. These two motives are branched of from the stem of FAITH IN Y’SHUA. You can only express the branches if you have the stem, without it, you are lost anyway. To see it in this light is to fulfill and comply to all three verses stated by three different Persons, Y’shua in Matt 7:21,22 (KNOWING HIM), Paul in Rom 2:13 and James in Jam 2:14-14 (BECOMING LIKE HIM) and then the most important one stated by Paul in Rom 3:22 (FAITH IN MESSIAH Y”SHUA). If you think of it, it is actually logical and takes away the false teaching of passive faith and living in sin because there is grace.

With that as background, let us look at Paul’s letter to Timothy. Timothy was Paul’s student and followed in his steps in preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles. There was a lot of arguing among the believers because of the mix between Torah observant Jews coming to Messiah and Pagan Gentiles, together in one congregation. Paul wrote these letters to Timothy to encourage him and guide him in solving the faith problems in the Jewish/Gentile assemblies.

1Ti 1:1-11
(1) Paul, an emissary of Y’shua Messiah, according to a command of Elohim our Saviour, and of the Master Y’shua Messiah, our expectation, (2) to Timothy, a genuine child in the belief: Favour, compassion, peace from Elohim our Father and Y’shua Messiah our Master. (3) As I appealed to you when I went into Makedonia, to remain in Ephesos, in order to command some not to teach differently, (4) nor to pay attention to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than an administration of Elohim which is in belief. (5) Now the goal of this command is love from a clean heart, from a good conscience and a sincere belief, (6) which some, having missed the goal, turned aside to senseless talk, (7) wishing to be teachers of Torah, understanding neither what they say nor concerning what they strongly affirm. (8) And we know that the Torah is good if one uses it legitimately, (9) knowing this: that Torah is not laid down for a righteous being, but for the lawless and unruly, for the wicked and for sinners, for the wrong-doers and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, (10) for those who whore, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and for whatever else that is contrary to sound teaching, (11) according to the esteemed Good News of the blessed Elohim which was entrusted to me.

Think of this one thing, would a person need a rulebook if he can play the game perfectly, without fault? Will a person need Torah if he has no sin? No, because he does everything right by nature build inside of him. Looking at the opposite, does a murderer need Torah? Yes, the Torah has evidence to prove to the murderer that he is a murderer according to YHVH’s standards. I think the murderer would think that he had a right to kill someone else and has a good reason t do so, but what does YHVH say? This is important. If you preach the Good news to sinners, how do they know they are sinners, what would cause them to think and repent? The Torah! This is why sinners do Torah, but do they need Torah? Paul said no, what did he mean by saying no? As I read the rest of the letter written to Timothy, I came across this part:

1Ti 3:1-15
(1) Trustworthy is the word: If a man longs for the position of an overseer, he desires a good work. (2) An overseer, then, should be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, sensible, orderly, kind to strangers, able to teach, (3) not given to wine, no brawler, but gentle, not quarrelsome, no lover of money, (4) one who rules his own house well, having his children in subjection with all reverence, (5) for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how shall he look after the assembly of Elohim? (6) Not a new convert, lest he become puffed up with pride and fall into the judgment of the devil. (7) And he should even have a good witness from those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. (8) Likewise attendants are to be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for filthy gain, (9) holding to the secret of the belief with a clean conscience. (10) And let these also be proved first, then let them serve, if they are unreprovable. (11) Wives in the same way: reverent, not false accusers, sober, trustworthy in every way. (12) Let attendants be the husbands of only one wife, ruling children and their own houses well. (13) For those who have served well as attendants gain good standing for themselves, and much boldness in the belief that is in Messiah Y'shua.

Looking at these I notice that they are also mentioned in Torah, very interesting. So, if Paul quoted Torah in his letter to Timothy, why did he say that righteous people do not need Torah? Aren’t these people righteous through faith in Messiah? You will understand this if you read Rom 7:19,25 where Paul stated that we are bound to a body of sinfulness and only Messiah will free us when He comes again, therefore we need to take care not to let go and indulge in the lusts of the flesh.

Rom 7:19-25
(19) For the good that I wish to do, I do not do; but the evil I do not wish to do, this I practise. (20) And if I do that which I do not wish, it is no longer I who work it, but the sin dwelling in me. (21) I find therefore this law, that when I wish to do the good, that the evil is present with me. (22) For I delight in the Torah of Elohim1 according to the inward man, Footnote: 1Ps. 119:16. (23) but I see another law in my members, battling against the Torah of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (24) Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? (25) Thanks to Elohim, through Y'shua Messiah our Master! So then, with the mind I myself truly serve the Torah of Elohim, but with the flesh the law of sin. Righteousness is the ultimate goal of our salvation in messiah and is a progressive work as running a race.

1Co 9:24-27
(24) Do you not know that those who run in a race indeed all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to obtain it. (25) And everyone who competes controls himself in every way. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we for an incorruptible crown. (26) Therefore I run accordingly, not with uncertainty. Thus I fight, not as one who beats the air. (27) But I treat my body severely and make it my slave, so that when I have proclaimed to others, I myself might be rejected.

Paul says here that he controsl himself so that the flesh in his body do not get the better of him, he controls it and bring it in submission of YHVH’s Word. Can this Word possibly be Torah? I think so because he said in Rom 7:22 that he delights in the Torah. To sum it up, we need Torah because we are not there yet, we are still running the race and still need to stand before Y’shua the Judge and need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, in th eprocess of becoming like Him and knowing Him. Do we need any thing added to Y’shua’s blood to be saved? No, His Blood washed us clean and we are clean, but the next step involving Y’shua is to understand that He is also the WORD. What does this mean?

The washing process does not stop with the Blood, it is only the beginning. His Word is the Water that washes you also and this process continues until you die or when He comes again. It is still Y’shua washing you, nothing added, nothing else needed, only Y’shua. The medium you are being washed in started with the Blood and now is the Water. This is confirmed with the Leprosy cleansing ritual that describes the ‘Born Again’ experience. Blood and water was mixed and used to cleanse the Leper and secondly confirmed with the water pouring Ceremony at the Feast of Succot. They pored wine (blood) and water on the western side (nations/gentiles) of the Altar. When Y’shua died, there came blood and water from His side, we know the Blood is very important, don’t you think that the Water is just as important?

Phi 2:12-16
(12) So that, my beloved, as you always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much rather in my absence – work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, (13) for it is Elohim who is working in you both to desire and to work for His good pleasure. (14) Do all matters without grumblings and disputings, (15) in order that you be blameless and faultless, children of Elohim without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, (16) holding on to the Word of life, for a boast to me in the day of Messiah, that I have not run in vain or laboured in vain.

To conclude, Paul said that Righteous people do not need Torah, but as seen in these few verses, we see that he was talking about the ultimate goal of living, living the higher life YHVH planned for us, not the current state of mortal life, battling with the flesh. Personally, including myself, I have not came across a believer in Y’shua that did not have issues regarding the flesh. So, I ask the question, are we fully righteous yet, or are we in the process of becoming righteous by the help of the Se Apart Spirit? This battle will continue until you lay your head down or when Messiah comes again, until then, I urge you to submit to YHVH’s Word and Spirit and endure till the end comes, so that we can be found blameless and without blemish before Him. Do not ignore the Torah, but use it legitimately, washing yourself with it, to learn to KNOW Him and to BECOME LIKE Him, our Master en Savior, Y’shua HaMassiah.

Shalom
Flip

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