Nazarene Israelite Two House Congregation of Port Elizabeth

What is meant by ‘a shadow of what is to come’?

Nominal Churchianity have over many years been taught that most of the matters addressed in what they refer to as the ‘Old Testament’ are mere shadows of things Messiah fulfilled for them and are no longer required for spiritually minded believers. Such believers insist that physical representations are made void by the greater spiritual truths which they represent. Ever since the canonization of the Renewed Covenant, referred to by Churchianity as the ‘New Testament’, students of the Scriptures have discussed the validity of the so-called ‘Old Testament’ in the lives of believers in Messiah. Some hold that believers in Messiah have moved away from the ‘Old Testament’ age of law to the age of grace. Even so, there are others who believe that the moral laws of the ‘Old Testament’ are still applicable to believers in Messiah as a general guide to life. The first group believes that unless the ‘New Testament’ restates an ‘Old Testament’ law, it has become obsolete and disappeared with the so-called ‘old covenant’. The second group believes that unless the ‘New Testament’ annuls an ‘Old Testament’ principle, it should be considered as still binding.  But, both these groups are of the opinion that a section of the law was purely ceremonial or ritual in nature and therefore merely a shadow of a greater reality. Most of these believers also assume that since these ‘shadows’ are mostly of a ceremonial nature, they are of no value to believers in Messiah. Besides quoting Colossians 2: 16 & 17[1], Churchianity often quote Hebrews 10: 1 as a second Scriptural ‘witness’ to their claim, as follows:‘For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never bythe same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.’

However, if we fully understand what Rav Shaul (a Jew by birth) meant when he wrote in Colossians 2: 17, ‘things which are a mere shadow of what is to come’from a Hebrew perspective, we will understand that he did not declare these observances outdated and not required any longer, but that they are rehearsals in preparation of things to come in the future. A case in point being where we read from Exodus 31: 13, “But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel (meaning both houses in this case), saying, ‘You shall surely observe My Sabbath; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations (meaning forever), that you may know that I am YHVH who sanctifies (set-apart) you.’’’ Note that YHVH spoke about His Sabbaths not only His Sabbath, meaning that not only is the weekly Sabbath a sign between YHVH and His people, but also His annual Sabbaths or Feast Days. We the remnant of the lost ten tribes of Israel together with the house of Judah are therefore obliged to keep the weekly and annual Sabbaths that YHVH commanded in Leviticus 23: 1 – 4, as follows: ‘YHVH spoke again to Moses, saying, (2) “Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, ‘(YHVH)’s appointed times (feasts)which you shall proclaim as holy (set-apart) convocations— My appointed times are these: (3) ‘For six days work may be done; but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy (set-apart) convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a Sabbath to YHVH in all your dwellings. (4) These are the appointed times of YHVH, holy (set-apart) convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them.”’ There are two important Hebrew words in this section of Scriptures, which are translated as appointed times and convocations. The word feast comes from the Hebrew word transliterated as ‘mo’ed’ meaning an appointment, which involves a fixed or set time. According to Leviticus 23: 3, the Sabbath is also a Set-apart convocation, which is transliterated as ‘miqra’in Hebrew, meaning an assembly or rehearsal. YHVH is therefore telling His people that the Sabbath is an appointed time during which He wants us to assemble to rehearse what His word teaches about His coming kingdom, our redemption through Messiah and the Messianic age.

As Nazarene Israel, we are together with our Jewish Brothers ambassadors of Elohim’s future kingdom on earth and as such we should be examples to people in the world (and especially fellow Israelites who still believe they are Gentiles) how to live according to the Laws that are applicable in the Kingdom of Elohim, currently in heaven, but which will be established on earth when Messiah returns to rule the world from Jerusalem. This despite those in Churchianity who believe in doctrines contrary to what Messiah taught and refer to observers of  the weekly Sabbath and other Set-apart Days, as‘legalists’. The best way to respond to such reasoning is to return to Colossians 2: 16 & 17, as critics of Sabbath-observance use these verses to justify their reasoning that since the reality has now come, the shadows have disappeared. As we have seen earlier, this interpretation of this passage is not new, as religious writers have interpreted it this way as far back as the second century CE. But, what must be remembered is that Rav Shaul wrote the book of Colossians to Nazarene believers in Messiah, who lived in Colossae. These believers were like Rav Shaul part of the Nazarene sect of the Pharisees who believed in Messiah, as may be read from Acts 24: 5, 14 as well as Acts 15: 5. Yes, these believers were definitely not Christian as may be seen from the fourth century Christian ‘Church Father’s’ description of the Nazarenes, in this way: ‘But these sectarians…did not call themselves Christians – but “Nazarenes,”…However they are simply complete Jews. They use not only the New Testament but the Old Testament as well, as the Jews do… They have no different ideas, but confess everything exactly as the Law proclaims it and in the Jewish fashion except for their belief in Messiah, if you please! For they acknowledge both the resurrection of the dead and the divine creation of all things, and declare that G-d is one, and that his son is Y’shua the Messiah. They are trained to a nicety in Hebrew. For among them the entire Law, the Prophets, and the …Writings… are read in Hebrew, as they surely are by the Jews. They are different from the Jews, and different from Christians, only in the following. They disagree with Jews because they have come to faith in Messiah; but since they are still fettered by the Law…circumcision, the Sabbath, and the rest...they are not in accord with Christians…they are nothing but Jews…. They have the Goodnews according to Matthew in its entirety in Hebrew. For it is clear that they still preserve this, in the Hebrew alphabet, as it was originally written.’

Rav Shaul was addressing false teachers in Colossae who asserted that worship through Messiah was not enough, as they taught that believers also had to work through angels as intermediaries as may be seen from what he wrote in Colossians 2: 18, saying:‘Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind.’  But, these false teachers in Colossae taught that the way to true spirituality also requires prohibition of tasting and touching (in verse 21) and severe treatment of the body (in verse 23). Those who read verses 16 & 17 in the same light as verses 18 – 23, do not understand that in verses 16 & 17 Rav Shaul was telling Nazarene believers that the body of Messiah[2], meaning the congregation of which Messiah is the head, should be the judge as to what we eat or drink, or in respect to the festivals, new moons or Sabbath Day observances and certainly not outsiders, as may be understood from reading the same from the King James Version, as follows: ‘Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: (17) Which are a shadow of things to come: but the body is of Messiah.’ (The underlined words are printed in italics in the KJV, indicating that they were added to make the passage more understandable and were not part of the original text.) The mistake in the interpretation of Churchianity is because they assume that the topic in question was whether we should be concerned about clean and unclean meats—and  the observance of the Set-apart days and the Sabbath or not. But, the Colossian heretics were criticizing believers for eating and drinking during their festival celebrations. The question was not whether these believers should observe Set-apart Days or the Sabbath – it was a matter of how they observed these festivals.

We need to be mindful that Yahshua is the perfect example YHVH sent us to follow and that Rav Shaul taught accordingly in 1 Corinthians 11: 1, saying:“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Messiah.” Rav Yochanan confirmed this in 1 John 2: 6, saying: ‘The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.’  If Yahshua kept the Scriptural Feast Days, then we ought to do the same. But, in a similar way that the shadow of yourself does not reveal everything there is to know about you, so spiritual shadows do not tell us everything there is to know about what is to come. The Sabbath, as well as the Feast of Tabernacles should be a shadow of the coming kingdom of Elohim and according to the Hebrew understanding we should keep the Feast Days of Elohim as a rehearsalof that blessed future event. Rav Shaul simply encouraged Colossian believers not to listen to the criticism of ‘outsiders’ and continue to enjoy their eating and drinking during their religious celebrations, since it was the function of the body of Messiah or the congregation, to judge the behavior of believers in the way they obey Torah. Why don’t Churchianity  who espouse this erroneous view, stop to ask why Rav Shaul did not include sacrifices in the list of shadows in verses 16 & 17 of Colossians 2, if the point of these verses were to show that believers need not keep such things any longer? The question is: Are shadows outdated? I would like to encourage those who believe so, to consider Yahshua who is the ultimate example of how we as believers should live our lives. We need to realize that Yahshua did not take shadows lightly. We have an example in the Renewed Covenant where Yahshua marched into the temple in Jerusalem and took sweeping action, despite the fact that the temple was only a shadow as may be read from Hebrews 8: 5. Yahshua became angry when He saw this shadow desecrated. We read Yahshua’s reaction from Mark 11: 17, in this way: ‘And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”’ Yahshua risked His personal safety when He angrily rebuked those who disregarded the spiritual significance of a physical location in which the priests performed physical sacrifices.

Messiah’s example showed that we must not ignore the shadows that the Scriptures specify. To treat these shadows lightly will result in our missing outas Yahshua taught in Matthew 5: 19, saying: ‘Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.’ To label attempts to keep the laws given in the Tanach observed by both Yahshua and His early Nazarene followers as Judaizing or legalistic, contradicts Yahshua’s own words and examples. The point is that the Renewed Covenant reveals a number of shadows that we should keep, conclusively putting the anti-shadow argument to bed. The most obvious ones are water immersion, which is a symbol or shadow of Messiah’s death and His memorial Passover in remembrance of His death. The bread and wine that we partake of during the Passover are representative or shadows of Yahshua’s body and blood sacrificed for the sins of the world. Then there are such shadows as the laying on of hands in Hebrews 6: 2; anointing with oil in James 5: 14; foot-washing in John 13: 14 commanded to assist in our spiritual understanding, as we perform them. The point is, if the Passover and immersion are worth keeping, should we dare to label others as worthless. Colossians 2: 16 & 17 certainly does not say any such thing. Consider for a moment what Rav Shaul teaches in 1 Corinthians 5: 7 – 8. Whereas Nazarene believers see this as simply an instruction to de-leaven their homes during the Days of Unleavened Bread, but also understand the deeper meaning that we should also spiritually clean up our lives, by repenting and returning to Torah obedience. Whilst Churchianity believes that this passage has nothing to do with de-leavening, but only with spirituality. The point of what Rav Shaul is saying here is that since Messiah has been sacrificed for us, we need to keep the feast of Unleavened Bread, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. This passage tells us to keep the feast of Unleavened Bread literally and spiritually. But this is also saying that we as believers should clean up our lives on a daily basis. From reading 1 Corinthians 16: 8, we see that Rav Shaul also kept Pentecost the same year that he wrote about Passover (in 1 Corinthians 11) and the Days of Unleavened Bread (in 1 Corinthians  5), as follows: ‘But I shall remain in Ephesus until Pentecost.’

We should not be concerned about those in other religions making judgments about the Feast Days that we keep and foods we eat, since as Rav Shaul wrote in verse 17 of Colossians 2, the body of Messiah, meaning the congregation of Elohim, of which Yahshua is the head, should judge the way we obey these Torah commands. Other than what Churchianity teach, not one of the covenants made with our forefathers in the Tanach have been abolished. A prime example being the rainbow – why if any of the original covenants were abolished do we still see the rainbow after a rainstorm? The covenant that YHVH made with Abraham is still valid, since as his descendants (even if it is only because we belong to Messiah and are not bloodline descendants) we are still looking forward to inherit the Promised Land eternally, when Messiah returns. So the last thing that we should be concerned about is what Christian believers say and understand from the word of Elohim. We know that one day YHVH will personally open the books of the Scriptures to all those blinded to His truths at this time, as is confirmed in Isaiah 25: 7 – 9, as follows: ‘And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. (8) He will swallow up death for all time (we know from Revelation 20: 14, that this will only happen after the Great White Throne Judgment), and YHVH Elohim will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for YHVH has spoken. (9) And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our Elohim for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is YHVH for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”’

Having said that, let’s consider Scriptures from the Renewed Covenant often quoted to challenge the clean food laws discussed in the Torah teachings of Elohim, as well as providing answers to these erroneous beliefs. We begin with the first Scripture usually mentioned by Churchianity to try and refute the Kosher food laws, that comes from Acts 10: 15, in this way: ‘And again a voice came to him a second time, “What Elohim has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”’This verse is erroneously interpreted as if YHVH has cleansed all meats in the Renewed Covenant Era. To understand this verse and Rav Kepha’s vision surrounding it is to understand the context of the entire chapter. At the beginning of this passage we read about a Gentile named Cornelius. He is an army captain who is righteous and well respected by all those around him, including the Jews. YHVH sends an angel to deliver a message to Cornelius, saying in verse 5 of Acts 10: “And now dispatch some men to Joppa, and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter (Kepha).”Cornelius a man, who fears Elohim, did as instructed by the angel.  Before Cornelius’ men arrive, Kepha goes onto the housetop to pray and whilst there he becomes hungry. As he prays he falls into a spiritual trance through which YHVH reveals a message that will change true worship forever. In his vision Kepha sees a great sheet coming down from the sky and on the sheet he saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the crawling creatures and the birds of the air. Next he hears a shocking statement; a voice saying: “Arise, Kepha; kill and eat!” Rav Kepha could not believe what he heard. He was confused and mystified by this instruction. It is repeated three times by the angel before the sheet and its contents are taken away. Kepha argues that being a Jew, he has never eaten anything unholy or unclean (verse14), not even 10 years after the death of Yahshua. Surely if the laws of clean and unclean foods had been done away with since the Savior’s death, Rav Kepha, one of the greatest apostles of the Renewed Covenant would have known about it soon after Yahshua’s death? In addition Rav Kepha was filled with the Set-apart Spirit, which was supposed to lead the apostles into all truth (as Yahshua told them in John 14:26). After the vision the men sent by Cornelius find Kepha and he returns with them to meet him. Once there, Kepha explains the meaning of his vision of the sheet, in Acts 10: 28, saying:“You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet Elohim has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean.”Thereafter Cornelius became the first Gentile convert to the Nazarene Jewish faith. In Acts 10: 28 we have the simple explanation of this vision from the mouth of Rav Kepha himself; saying that Gentiles, once considered unclean, may now enter the Covenant of promise. YHVH simply used unclean food to symbolize "unclean" Gentiles, who are now allowed to follow the Master Yahshua and enter the Promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In Acts 10: 34 &35, Kepha summarizes the lesson of his vision that he received in Joppa on the rooftop of the house of Simon the Tanner, saying: “I most certainly understand now that Elohim is not one to show partiality, (35) but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right, is welcome to Him.” Clearly the vision seen by Kepha was to show him in a very profound way that Gentiles, who were once considered unclean, were now permitted into Elohim’s covenant with our fathers in the faith, through Yahshua. Nowhere in this passage are Elohim’s clean food Laws discussed or repealed. In addition Kepha rejects the idea of ever eating anything that conflicts with the clean food Laws given by YHVH in His Torah.

A second Scripture that Churchianity quote to ‘refute’ the kosher food laws, comes from Mark 7: 18, as follows: ‘And He(Yahshua) said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him?”’This verse is erroneously interpreted as if Yahshua was condemning the Scribes and Pharisees for their strict obedience to Torah, decreeing many foods to be unfit for human consumption. However, we find by reading the entire passage, that this was not the issue under discussion. At the beginning of the passage, we find Yahshua’s disciples eating with unwashed hands in plain sight of the Scribes and Pharisees. The Scribes and Pharisees had many rabbinical traditions that had been handed down through the ages and one of those were ceremonial washing of hands before eating. We read accordingly in verses 3 & 4 of Mark 7, “For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; (4)and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.” When the Scribes and Pharisees saw Yahshua’s disciples eating before washing their hands, they accused Yahshua and His disciples of breaking their traditions. Yahshua was not pleased with their condemnation, but in turn accused them of placing their own man-made traditions above the commandments given by Elohim (see Mark 7: 6 – 9).Yahshua did not condemn them for compliance with the kosher food Laws found in the Scriptures, but condemns them for their doctrines of men.

 

These doctrines were not part of the Torah teachings of YHVH, but were established by Jewish leaders through many generations. This section has therefore nothing to do with the kosher food laws to be found in the Scriptures. In fact we read according to verses 18 & 19 of Mark 7, ‘And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him;(19) because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean).’The bracketed section was added by the Authors of the NASB to show that it is their personal interpretation. A similar sentence is added in most Christian Bibles and we are warned about such misinterpretations and additions in Jeremiah 8: 8 – 9, as follows: “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of YHVH is with us? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. (9)The wise men are put to shame, they are dismayed and caught; behold, they have rejected the word of YHVH, and what kind of wisdom do they have?”Yahshua taught in verse 18 of Mark 7 that ingesting some dirt from unwashed hands will not defile us, but evil thoughts will defile us because they come from the heart, as witnessed from verses 21 – 23, in this way: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,(22) deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. (23) All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”Yahshua did not even make mention of the kosher food laws in Mark 7; He simply taught that we are to observe Elohim’s physical Laws without neglecting His weightier (Spiritual) Laws. Ceremonial washing, as distinct from washing for cleanliness was one of the traditions of the Jews. However, as believers we should always wash our hands after working outside or after going to the toilet, as Rav Yaa’cov wrote in James 4: 8, saying, ‘Draw near to Elohim and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.’Yes, Rav Yaa’cov meant that we should clean ourselves up spiritually, but because of the duality principle that runs throughout the Scriptures; he also implied that we should clean ourselves up physically.

 

A third verse used to discredit the Scriptural kosher laws, is in Colossians 2: 16, as follows: “Therefore let no one act as your judge in regards to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.”This is erroneously interpreted to say that we should not judge people in regard to the freedom that we now have in Messiah. However, Rav Shaul is speaking to the congregation (or Body of Messiah) and not to the world in general.  If he was speaking to a pagan world that has neglected Elohim’s Word, then it would only make sense to conclude that Rav Shaul is saying that we are no longer under ‘Old Testament’ regulations and must not be judged by such matters. However, Rav Shaul is speaking to an obedient congregation of called out believers. Verse (17) is the key to understanding this, stating: ‘things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Messiah.’ This is essentially saying that those of us following Messiah should be judged by Him, or by His congregation and not by outsiders. It has nothing to do with the kosher food laws found in the Scriptures. However to understand this misconception better, we need to be familiar with the following two scriptural concepts, namely a shadow and a type:

1. A shadow: A shadow points to the reality, but does not do away with it. Elohim’s Feast Days are shadows of things to come according to Colossians 2: 17. These Feast Days were introduced by YHVH in Leviticus 23 and relates His plan of salvation for all humankind, to us. We keep these Feast Days yearly to rehearse Elohim’s plan of Salvation, so that we as first fruits will be able to teach the same as well as the rest of Torah to our siblings during Yahshua’s millennium rule. Even though Passover, including the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost has already been fulfilled, the last four Feast Days namely Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles and the Last Great Day will only be fulfilled at and after Yahshua’s return one day.

2. A type: The sacrificial laws were types and after Yahshua became the sacrifice for our sins, He effectively did away with the sacrificial requirements of the Law in respect of sin. Since Yahshua fulfilled the Sacrificial Law, by becoming the sacrifice, there is no longer a need to sacrifice animals each time we sin (transgress the Torah).

 

A fourth verse used to refute the Scriptural kosher laws is in 1 Timothy 4: 4, in this way: ‘For everything created by Elohim is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude;’This is erroneously interpreted that it is acceptable to eat anything, as long as you are thankful for it. However, to fully understand what this portion of the Scriptures is saying, we have to read the very next verse (5), which reads like this: ‘for it is sanctified by means of the word of Elohim and prayer.’The question to answer here is: What is sanctified by means of the word of Elohim? The word sanctified simply means to set-apart or made ‘holy’. So the question is what foods are set-apart by the word of Elohim for use as food by mankind. The answer is obviously to be found in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. Rav Shaul was definitely not promoting the eating of ceremonially unclean animals. The point is that most people will agree that rats, bats, lizards, scorpions and skunks are definitely not good for food? The food YHVH has set-apart in the Torah for those called out to follow His way, remains so.

 

Finally Churchianity uses Romans 14: 14, to refute the Scriptural kosher laws, as follows: ‘I know and am convinced in the Master Yahshua that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.’ Does this mean that he abandoned the laws of clean and unclean foods discussed in Torah? We know that Rav Shaul did not change or abandoned any command given by YHVH in the Torah and to explain this particular verse from the Scriptures, we need to familiarize ourselves with the different Greek words used in the Renewed Covenant, to fully understand what Rav Shaul was actually saying regarding food in Romans 14. The Greek word used by Rav Shaul in Romans 14, was ‘koinos’ meaning common or ordinary. The word ‘koinos’ is also used in Acts 2: 44 (‘And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common.’); Acts 4: 32 (‘but all things were common property to them); Titus 1: 4 (‘to Titus, my true child in a common faith); and Jude 3 (‘Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation’.) The same word was also used for things considered polluted or defiled. This word is also used in its form as a verb, namely ‘koinoo’ in Mark 7: 2, as follows: ‘and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impurehands, that is, unwashed.’These two words (‘koinos’ and ‘koinoo’) are in fact used throughout the Renewed Covenant to refer to ceremonially uncleanness and not to unclean meats or animals. Therefore something could be common or ceremonially unclean, yet be in the prescribed list of ‘Kosher’ foods given in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. The very same word used in the Septuagint version of the Torah, namely ‘akatharos’ is also used in the Greek translation of the Renewed Covenant for unclean meats. In Acts 10 both the words ‘koinos’ and ‘akatharos’ describe Rav Kepha’s vision of the sheet filled with all kinds of animals of the earth. Rav Kepha distinguished between the two concepts of unclean by using both words in verse 14 of Acts 10 (“By no means, Master, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.” Most translations of the Scriptures distinguish between the meanings of the two words used here. Rav Kepha used the same terminology (namely unholy {koinos} or unclean {akatharos}) in verse 28 and again in Acts 11: 8 in discussing his vision.

 

Where Rav Shaul said in Roman 14: 14, ‘I Know and am convinced by the Master Yahshua that nothing is unclean in itself’, he was in fact making the same point as he did in 1 Corinthians 8.  In  first Corinthians 8 Rav Shaul explained that even if clean meat was offered to idols, the so-called pagan god had no bearing on whether the meat was suitable to be eaten or not, since there is ‘no Elohim but one’ in verse 4. But what was Rav Shaul’s point in Romans 14? He was essentially saying that depending upon their consciences, early believers had several options open to them whilst traveling or living in certain communities. If they did not want to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols, they could choose to eat only vegetables. However, if there was not a regular source of kosher meat available, believers could eat meat slaughtered by Moslem butchers, since they also know how to bleed the animal in the prescribed way, even though they offer such meat up to their deity. Romans 14 is about a person’s conscience within the framework of the Torah. Rav Shaul was not here discussing Scriptural kosher laws, but as we see from verse 20 where the word clean is ‘katharos’, i.e. free from impure mixture, spotless. The word ‘katharos’ is used in the Scriptures to describe all kinds of cleanliness, including clean dishes (Matthew 23: 26), clothing (Revelation 15: 6; 19: 8 & 14), and pure religion (James 1: 27). We need to understand that in both verses 14 and 20 of Romans 14, the word food or meat was not in the original wording. In fact no specific entity is mentioned relative to clean or uncleanness. These verses are simply stating that ‘nothing is unclean(‘koinos’ - common or ceremonially unclean) in itself’and ‘all is clean(‘katharos’ – without blemish or spot).’ Rav Shaul was essentially saying that any association of food with idolatrous activity had no influence on whether the food was suitable for eating.

 

It is clear therefore that none of the reasons Churchianity uses to teach their followers to abolish the food laws given in Torah are valid and should accordingly be rejected by those who follow our Jewish Messiah Yahshua, who clearly taught in John 5: 47 (paraphrased) that if you do not believe in the writings of Moses, you cannot claim to believe in Him! Think about it!

 

 

 

[1] Colossians 2: 16 & 17: ‘Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Messiah.’

[2]As believers we are all aware that the body of Messiah refers to the congregation of called out believers from the house of Israel, but also of Torah observant members of the house of Judah, as witnessed in Ephesians 1: 22 & 23, as follows: ‘And He (Elohim) put all things in subjection under His (Messiah’s) feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the congregation, which is His body,the fullness of Him who fills all in all.’ But also in Ephesians 2: 12 – 16, in this way: ‘remember that you were at that time separate from Messiah, excluded fromthe commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without Elohim in the world.But now in Messiah Yahshua you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah.For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity (or punishment due to disobedience to Torah), which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances(or judgments), that in Himself He might make the two (nations) into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to Elohim through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.’