The Book of Galatians is often quoted as being a deathblow to the arguments of those who insist on honoring the Torah. A closer look at this letter of Shaul – not only its contents, but also its context – proves to be very enlightening, indeed.

It is extremely important for everyone who wishes to honour Scriptures to take careful notice of the historical context of this letter of Galatians. What was Shaul’s purpose in writing this letter? What were the circumstances that necessitated the writing of a letter like this? The majority of scholars are in agreement that there was a group of people who infiltrated the body of Messianic believers in Galatia (which consisted mainly of believers coming from a gentile background) and started exercising pressure on them to observe certain ceremonial aspects of the law, particularly the practice of circumcision. In Gal 2:4 they are called "false brothers, sneakingly brought in, who sneaked in to spy out our freedom which we have in Messiah Y'shua in order to enslave us." Shaul saw the extreme danger in what these false brothers were doing and wrote this urgent letter in which he pleaded with the Galatians not to fall into the trap set by the enemy. Those who would not listen to this warning of Shaul were running the risk of neglecting, and even rejecting the full meaning of what Y'shua the Messiah came to do in this world.

What we should notice in this letter is that Shaul did not for one moment suggest that the Galatians (or any Messianic believer, for that matter) were not required to keep the moral side of the law, because of the fact that they were now believers in the Messiah. On the contrary, he emphasizes that they should obey the truth (5:7); that they should love their neighbors as themselves (5:14); that they should walk in the Spirit and not according the flesh (5:16-18); that those who engage in things that are contrary to the moral law (including the first table of the Ten Commandments), will not inherit the reign of Elohim (5:19-21); that they should bear fruit that is not against the Torah (5:22-23); that they should live in such a way that they complete or fulfill the Torah of Messiah (6:2) and that they should sow seed that is not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (6:7-9). From this it is clear that when Shaul in this letter uses the word "law" or "Torah" in a negative sense (suggesting that it was only of a temporary nature and had served its purpose), he is not referring to the moral side of the Torah (which Yaacov / James calls "the perfect Torah of freedom" – Yaacov 1:25). No, he is referring to the ceremonial side of the law, which we know full well – also from other parts of Scripture – was only intended to be implemented until the coming of the Messiah.

In Galatians 3 Shaul uses the argument that the "Torah" was given long after Yahweh made his covenant with Avraham. From this we can see, says Shaul, that "Torah" was a temporary and intermediate measure, only until Messiah would come (3:17-25). Does Shaul understand the Ten Commandments or the Ten Words of Yahweh to be "temporary" or "intermediate" because it was part of the Torah given to Mosheh? We know that this cannot be the case because the Ten Words given to Mosheh on Mount Sinai were just a confirmation of a "Torah" (which means "teaching") that was known long before the people of Yisrael came to Sinai.

There is no doubt that the first commandment was known and kept by Avraham and all his people – so also the second commandment (see, for example, Bereshit 15:7; 17:1; 26:24; 28:13; 31:13; 35:2; 35:11 and 46:3). The same goes for the third commandment, concerning honoring the Father's Name (refer to Bereshit 4:26; 12:8; 13:4; 16:13; 21:33; 26:25; 32:29). Although we have no record that Avraham and his people kept the Shabbat (fourth commandment), we know that the Shabbat as a special day of rest was already established after the sixth day of creation. We also know that the people of Yisrael were required to keep the Shabbat even before they received and learned about the Ten Commandments (they were told not to collect any manna on the seventh day of each week during their journey through the wilderness). Studying the book of Bereshit makes it perfectly clear that Avraham and his extended family, in fact, knew every one of the Ten Commandments and would neither allow themselves, nor their children or their slaves, to engage in moral conduct contrary to what was many years later included in the Ten Commandments or Ten Words of Yahweh.

What about other moral aspects of the Torah that were given to Mosheh on Mount Sinai, not included in the Ten Words? Were these also known and observed, before the actual giving of the Torah to Mosheh, the servant of Yahweh? There are many indications in Scriptures that this was indeed the case. Like the Shabbat, the feasts were already established during the time of creation. On the fourth day of creation the Creator said these words: "Let lights come to be in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and appointed times, and for days and years" (Bereshit 1:14). "Appointed times" ("moadim") in Scriptures is a word-group referring to the set apart feasts of Yahweh and even before the Torah was officially received, these appointed times already existed and played an important role in Yisrael’s history. A confirmation of this is the fact that Yisrael entered Mitsrayim (Egypt) in the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, left Mitsrayim on the same feast day, 430 years later (Shemot 12:40-41), kept the feast of the Firstfruits in the wilderness (Shemot 3:18; 5:1; 5:3) and received the Torah on the day of Shavuot / Pentecost (Shemot 19:1-25).

What about other aspects that were included in the complete corpus of the Torah, like the command to refrain from unclean foods? Is there any mentioning about clean and unclean animals, before the actual giving of the Torah to Mosheh? Indeed, there is. Long before Mosheh was even born, Noach (Noah) was told by Yahweh: "Of all the clean beasts take with you seven pairs, a male and his female; and of the beasts that are unclean two, a male and his female" (Bereshit 7:2). The truth is, these animals – more specifically the meat coming from these animals – was an abomination in Yahweh’s eyes, even before He said so specifically in the Torah given at Sinai. Naturally, He feels the same way, even up till this day. Modern scholars and translators of Scriptures know today that a verse like Mark 7:19 have for a long time been mistranslated, as saying: "Y'shua declares (makes) all foods acceptable or clean." What this verse does say, in reality, is that the stomach (not Y'shua) makes all food clean (by allowing the "waste residue" of all absorbed food to exit the body so that it cannot affect the heart).

Let’s look at two more key verses in Galatians that are often misinterpreted as "proof" that modern day believers are not required to keep (the moral aspects of) the Torah.

Gal 3:10 For as many as are of works of Torah are under the curse, for it has been written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all that has been written in the book of the Torah, to do them." "Those who are of the works of Torah" means: "those who believe that the works of Torah – especially the ceremonial works – are the starting point or origin of true faith." Shaul’s plea is that "belief" or "faith" in the Messiah is the starting point and that keeping the moral side of the Torah will then follow more easily. This is confirmed in Gal 5:6 where he says the true strength of the believers in Messiah, is their "belief working through love".

Gal 3:24-25 Therefore the Torah became our trainer unto Messiah, in order to be declared right by belief. And after belief has come, we are no longer under a trainer. "Under a trainer" means: "following the exact commands of this trainer like a slave follow the commands of his master." This is no longer the case for those who are in the Messiah. He has written the true Torah in their hearts. They are therefore no longer under a trainer, or under the Torah. No, they are under the Messiah, and in the Messiah, and the Messiah in them – so also the Torah: it is now within them and there is no longer any need to revert to exterior signs like circumcision, tsittsit (fringes) and mezuzot (inscribed plates on doorposts) to remind them of Torah.