The Three-Hundred-Eleventh (The Test)

As believers, we tend to focus on certain things in scripture.  Sometimes, that’s a good thing, but sometimes it leads us to the wrong conclusions.  It also sometimes leads us to a right answer, but not the root answer that helps us frame and understand many other things in scripture that are not specifically related to the topic of that, more superficial, right answer.

We’re going to talk about one of those root conclusions or topics today.  Mind you, this isn’t going to be anything revolutionary or surprising.  You’ve probably learned it before, or perhaps it is just obvious to you based on your studies of scripture.

I won’t say that it was surprising to me either, but have you ever read something in scripture and it just hits you in a different way?  Today’s topic is something that hit me recently and it was obvious to me that it needed to be this week’s study.  We’re going to get into what it was that I was reading at the time and why this topic should help us frame everything we read in scripture and everything that happens to us in our lives.

As stated at the beginning, we sometimes focus on certain things in scripture and one of those things is sin.  More specifically, we sometimes focus on the specifics of certain sins.  A common discussion or argument is which commandments YHWH expects us to follow today versus what was given to the Israelites at Mount Sinai.  That’s an example of focusing on the specific sins as compared to just sin as a whole.

To put it a different way, this focus is really believers trying to determine which sin is still a sin.  In other words, out of the list of things YHWH commanded way back then, which ones did He change His mind on and no longer expects His people to follow.  We can try to play word games all we want, but that’s what it really comes down to.

Some will argue that believers today are not Israel, which somehow means YHWH has a different standard for us.  Some will argue that even if believers today are Israel, the Israel of the Old Testament did so many different sins that YHWH had to add commandments, but since we didn’t do those sins, those commandments don’t apply.  This is the argument of following just the “Ten Commandments” versus following all the commandments.  They often use Paul’s statement of the Law being given because of transgressions to support this argument (Galatians 3:19).

This is certainly a statement that needs to be discussed as believers to determine what it really means, but it still doesn’t go deep enough.  The focus is still on the Law, the definition of sin (1 John 3:4), which is too superficial.  That might sound odd to you because for a lot of believers the conversation of being “under the Law” versus being “under grace” is one of the deepest topics out there.

The reason that conversation is still too superficial actually goes to why Paul made his statement in the first place.  A lot of believers will reason that it’s because of the additional sins the Israelites committed, as we stated earlier, but even with this explanation the question is why?  If that is the long and the short of why more commandments were given than just the Ten Words (the scriptural name given to what we call the Ten Commandments today), then it begs the question of why were they considered sins to begin with?

Were those additional commandments not covered in the Ten Words as the overarching commandments?  If they weren’t but they were always considered sins, why didn’t YHWH give them as commandments to begin with?  Does He allow His people to commit certain sins because He didn’t give a commandment for them for some reason?  And if that’s the case, then why did He add some of those commandments after the Ten Words just because the Israelites ended up committing some more sins?  

These are the questions you have to ask when we go down this line of logic with Paul’s statement, and when you ask them, they sound kind of ridiculous, don’t they?  YHWH just adds commandments when His people sin more?  Which came first, the commandment or the sin?

That’s exactly why this discussion is still too superficial and it’s exactly why that’s not what Paul was talking about when he made his statement.  The Law is not about the commandments or the transgression of those commandments, the sins.  It’s bigger than that, and when you read the entire context surrounding his statement this becomes obvious.

In context, he’s talking about promises to Abraham and the Law’s relationship to them.  He mentions the Law being an instructor until the Savior, Yeshua, came (Galatians 3:24).  A lot of believers will then use this to “prove” that the Law is no longer applicable to us today, and they’ll use Paul’s next statement to justify that proof (Galatians 3:25).

Paul had a very deep understanding of scripture and its meaning (as a reminder, scripture to Paul consisted only of what we typically call the Old Testament today).  His explanations and teachings came from this deep understanding, and because many believers today read certain things in scripture without that deep understanding they see contradictions in Paul’s writings; contradictions between his own writings and between his and other scriptural writings.  Paul’s writings are actually not what I was referring to earlier that I had read recently and that hit me differently, so let’s press the pause button on him and get to that so we can start getting into that deeper understanding.

What I was reading was actually in the book of Judges.  Now, this is not the first place where verses related to this topic show up in scripture, but it’s as good a place as any for us to start.  As a short synopsis of context, we end in the book of Joshua with some successes of Israel under the leadership of Joshua, and Judges continues with more success.

Very quickly however, things take a turn for the worst, and essentially the entirety of Judges is the story of Israel going back and forth between transgressing YHWH and serving Him.  Prior to his death, Joshua predicted this though, and he urged the people to choose YHWH rather than the foreign gods of the land YHWH led them to dwell in (Joshua 24:14-24).  Much like at Mount Sinai, the people promised to serve YHWH, and much like at Mount Sinai and after, that promised was broken over and over again.  

Already with Joshua’s words we’re now starting to get to a deeper level.  It’s not about following each commandment, or not sinning.  It’s not about individual sins or even the entire body of sins and the Law that is supposed to help us keep from committing those sins.  It’s about serving YHWH versus serving someone, or something, else.  

By taking it this one level deeper, we’re getting a better picture of what Paul was talking about, aren’t we?  Whereas Abraham served YHWH without having the Law in front of him to follow, because of transgressions, sin, YHWH had to tell His people what sin was.  He had to tell them how to serve Him versus how they had learned, over hundreds of years in Egypt, to worship and serve other things.

Does looking at it that way tell us that the Law is still applicable today or that it’s no longer required?  Do we still have a potential of being influenced by Egypt today, meaning by the world whose god is Satan, or are we just that much better today, as a people, than Israel was?  So much better that we just know inherently whether something we do or say is serving YHWH or serving someone, or something, else?  

Let’s take the answer to these questions from Paul’s own words again.  Even with the Law, even with the Holy Spirit, even with the body of believers all around him, he says he doesn’t do the good he wants to do and he continues to do the evil that he doesn’t want to do (Romans 7:15-23).  He continues to sin when he doesn’t want to and when he wants to do good, evil is right there with him.

I think we all can relate to Paul’s words here, and it proves the point that we still need the help of YHWH’s commandments for us to know what is serving Him versus what is serving something else.  Furthermore, it argues against any ability or authority that we have to determine which of YHWH’s commandments we’re supposed to follow today versus which ones are not applicable, if any.  If we were to pick and choose which ones we think He doesn’t want us to follow today by using our own mind or logical thinking, how do we know that it’s not the “evil [that] is right there with [us]” telling us or influencing us to believe that those commandments aren’t applicable so that we’ll sin by transgressing those commandments?  

Let’s even take the whole Law question out of the picture and talk about this, since the Law can be a bit of a lightning rod for some.  I think every believer can agree that as YHWH’s people we are to listen to and follow the specific directions that He gives to us individually in our lives.  That’s the typical, general definition of obedience that every believer buys into, whether you believe part of those directions include YHWH’s commandments or not.  In the very first chapter of Judges, we see that Israel fails to carry out the specific direction from YHWH to completely drive out the people in the promised land (Deuteronomy 7:1-6, 16-26, Numbers 33:50-52, Judges 1:27-33).

For whatever reason, the Israelites did not follow this command from YHWH.  We don’t know if they wanted to show mercy to these people.  We see that some of them were put into forced labor for Israel, but we don’t know if that was the reason why Israel allowed them to stay.  We also don’t know if this was a case where Israel just forgot about this commandment over time or if they knowingly and willfully disobeyed it.  Scripture doesn’t give us the explanation as to why they did what they did.

Scripture does tell us what the result of this transgression was, and it states it in a way that gives us context to apply to our lives today.  We see a messenger from YHWH tell His people that because of what they did, the people they let remain in the land will afflict them and their gods will be a way for them to get caught up in sin (Judges 2:1-3).  As prophesied by YHWH Himself, Israel did turn to other gods and serve them (Judges 2:10-13), and because of their sin, the people around them were able to steal from them and beat them in battle (Judges 2:14-15).

In the next passage of scripture though, we find insight as to the deepest meaning of everything we see in scripture and everything we experience in our own lives.  Through Israel’s transgression of allowing the people of the land to remain rather than driving them completely out, YHWH used those people and their ways as a test of whether or not His people would serve Him (Judges 2:20-22).  This is not to say that everything we experience in life is this test, although I believe that we should look at everything from that perspective, but it is to say that YHWH will sometimes use our sins to create situations that test whether or not we will serve Him rather than something else.

In other words, while the initial sin was clearly an instance of our not serving Him, He will sometimes use that initial sin to continue to test whether or not we will repent and turn back to serving Him.  The bad things that happen after we sin are not only consequences of that sin, but opportunities to change our ways and repent.  He doesn’t want us to get there in the first place, but He gives us events and experiences to turn back to Him if we do.

Did you know that the heart of the Hebrew word that’s translated to commandment is more related to connection rather than command?  The Hebrew word for an order, like one that a commander would give to a soldier, is completely different than the one translated to commandment, which is mitsvah (Strong’s H4687).  This word is related to the Hebrew word for team, and that tells us YHWH’s commandments are about connecting with Him and working together with Him, rather than Him ordering us to do something.

When it comes down to it, YHWH’s Law is not about testing us on whether or not we follow each and every commandment.  There’s really only one test: whether we serve YHWH or whether we serve someone, or something, else.  That’s the deepest level, the root question.  

His Law certainly helps us better understand how to serve Him, but serving Him is not ultimately about following “do this” or “do that” actions.  It’s about being on His team and working with Him to execute His plays!  When we look at scripture from that perspective, it becomes abundantly clear why we see things like Moses seemingly talking Him out of destroying all of Israel and starting over (Exodus 32:9-14).  The test is whether or not we want to be on His team or someone else’s team.

We hope you have a great week!  Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!  

-Rob and Sara Gene

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The Gospel

We are born sinful as a result of Adam and Eve's sin (Genesis 2:17, 3:6, 1 John 1:8)

The consequence of sin, which is unavoidable through our own works, is death (Romans 6:23)

Yeshua, the Son of YHWH, lived sinless and was put to death (Hebrews 4:15)

His death, therefore, cleanses us of sin that would have required our death

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

He rose on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4)

Because of His resurrection, we are confident in our future resurrection and eternal life

(1 Corinthians 15:17-18, John 3:16)