How many Commandments are there?
The commandments – which Judaism calls the 613 mitzvot – are the order of laws that can be read in the five books of Moses, in the Pentateuch. There are in fact more than 613. Their actual number is between 650 and 700.
This is not a set of additional laws that Moses receives from Yahuwah, but the more detailed version of the 10 Commandments. The 10 Words are thus explained and illustrated in a kind of more practical way with concrete cases. Just as the 10 Commandments themselves are in fact the development, the more detailed version of the 2 Great Commandments of Love. (love for Elohim and love for our neighbour). To summarize,
there are only 2 Commandments which themselves are developed in 10 then in 613+ explanatory Commandments.
Commandments in Yahushua HaMashiah?
Are these commandments part of pharisaic laws?
The “613” commandment does NOT belong to the additional Judaic laws, but to the still valid and inseparable part of the 2nd and 10th Commandments and the Holy Scriptures, the Word that became flesh in Yeshua.
These are the laws that the Father wants to engrave in our hearts through his Spirit, precisely so that we no longer seek to obey them from without, but from within, through the pure instincts of our new man.
We do not obey them in the hope of Salvation, but as a consequence of the Salvation we ‘ve already obtained.
In short, by our rebirth, we allow them to act in us through the action of the Holy Spirit.
If we allow Him, Ruach HaKodesh is also able to make us understand what the ancient commandments, often related to animals and agricultural activities, mean and symbolize in our own personal lives today. What does our neighbor’s ox, donkey, the process of compensation, etc. mean to us today? Moreover, in relation to the sacrificial order, we quickly realize that our thanksgiving, prayers, sacrifices, renunciations and turning away from sins in our lives are precisely the reflections of the description of the old sacrificial orders. Now in times of grace, of course, all of this does mainly happen on a spiritual level, through the renewal of our minds.
We are no longer under the law!
As Paul warns us, we are indeed no longer under the curse of the law. Provided that these are engraved in our spirit by the fire of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, anyone who submits to these laws without being born again and without confessing the reign of the Messiah Yahushuah trying to observe them by himself is someone who truly remains under the curse that the judgment of the Law involves.
On the other hand, any follower of the Messiah who continues to deny the validity of the Law – as fulfilled and regulated by the Holy Spirit – does also remain under the curse of it.
For the simple reason that denying the validity of the law excludes the full functioning of Ruach HaKodesh in our minds.
The law is no longer a goal, but a means. The Commandments are unable of bringing Salvation. They remain, however, signposts of major importance to help us stay on the bumpy and narrow path that leads directly to Salvation. These signals allow us to stay spiritually alive until we finally pass into Eternal Life at the end of our journey of disciples. This is the essential difference between the old and weak covenant which produces death and the perfect and life-bearing New Covenant.
The New, on the other hand, is only valid on the basis of the Old. If we allow ourselves to withdraw the old, we exclude ourselves from the new. Anyone who considers the New Covenant as autonomous and independent of the old one, does not understand its deep meaning and finds himself under the power of a false or alien covenant. Yahuwah’s message, promise and commandments remain the same, for they are immutable. In the case of the Commandments, it is the mode of application that has changed following the advent of the Messiah. Yahushua has taken from the hands of men the right to carry out the sentences resulting from the application of the commandments. Nevertheless, this right exists and continues to function, but only by the action of the Spirit of Messiah and mainly at the level of the spirit. Even the death penalty must be applied, because if our old man is not put to death, we would not be unable to be born again. Without judgment, no Grace is possible. Without Law, there is no judgment either. In a word, the Law must be applied and fulfilled in order to be able to give way to Grace and New Life.
What has therefore changed since the Sacrifice of the Lamb and Pentecost is the material carrying the commandments:
Stone in the case of the old covenant: the letter that kills, and heart or spirit in the case of the New Covenant: which brings Life.
This is exactly what happened at Pentecost. The double tongues of flame appearing above the heads of the disciples were none other than the two stone tablets brought to life as a promise given by Moses from Mount Sinai, which were then fulfilled in the hearts of the first disciples. After all, it was not written on them that DO NOT kill – DO NOT steal – DO NOT commit adultery – Honor your parents, etc., but the future tense of the original Hebrew say that YOU WILL not kill, steal, commit adultery and that you WILL Honor Elohim, your father, your mother, your neighbor, if in Me, in the Messiah, you are finally born again. You are going to change in such a way that these laws will spread like a natural flow from the germ of your thoughts all the way through your actions.
It was therefore never a question of prohibitions or obligations, but of promises.
When Yeshua spoke about the fact that if you think bad in your mind, you have already fallen into sin, he is not asking you to restrain your own thoughts, which is impossible for man, but he is projecting that when My Spirit will move into you, then I will put these things in their place in your heart and in your mind, and I will free you from even the thought of it so that it will not even cross your mind anymore.
Law and Messiah: each other’s mirrors
The law was our pedagogue to lead us to the Messiah, as we can read in the epistle to the Galatians. Likewise and from the coming of the Holy Spirit,
the Messiah teaches us through the Law in order to sanctify us from within.
The Spirit of Yahushua HaMeshiah is our teacher, unfolding his order and law and placing them within us as the Living Word. The peoples are not the heirs of the covenant concluded at Mount Sinai, they are the heirs of the Covenant sealed at Golgotha. Here the process starts in reverse. What Judaism has not been able to keep is now engraved and animated in the hearts and minds of its people by the Messiah in person, whether they are Jews or not.
This is how two promises are fulfilled:
This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says Yahuwah. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.
Hebrews 10-16
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Matthew 5:17
Thus, the commandments and their commentaries that you will find on this website are in no way intended to be strictly followed in human effort. Rather, they are meant to shed light on areas of our life as believers where we are still stuck and often do not even suspect that the reason is that we have been lied to about it for almost 2000 years. Lies such as the commandments are only valid for Jews and no longer valid for others who are in Christ, all prevent us from having a full and blossoming relationship with the Holy Spirit.
The knowledge of the Commandments and their current validity helps us see how the 2 Great Commandments of Love are still not complete within us, so that we can ask our Savior to continue His purifying work in our spirits through the action of His. This is what we call the Process of Sanctification.
Also read: The Essence of the Law and Shavuot – Pentecost
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