Hello everyone,

After reading the original post and scanning through all of the replies, it seems to me that the real question is not if and should believing Jews from the early church and today hold to the Law and preserve it's ordinances, but what the reason for doing so is. Great arguements from all, and by argument I mean discussion, but I'm not sure that the real issue has truly been tackled.

Is it unbiblical for a born again believing Jew to observe particular ordinances from the Law? To cirmumsize, observe the Passover, eat kosher foods, etc.? My simplified answer to that is, No. Now, I will add that I believe that it depends on why they are observing those ordinances. If it is because they believe that they must for righteousness sake, then I believe they are at fault. However, if they observe them merely for ethnic identity, then I would say they are not at fault. By 'at fault' I simply mean that they are not in violation of 'by Grace through Faith' alone for salvation.

Paul used the Law to denote that we are no longer under the Law in Galations, yet I'm sure he is aware that Jesus stated that He did not come to abolish the Law, for indeed He stated that not one jot nor tittle would be removed from the Law. The Jeruselem Council did not conviene in order to abolish the Jewish practices, but rather their 'decree' (if you will) was to condone the imposing of Jewish practices upon the Gentile believers. It has been rightly said that faith has always been the means to salvation and justification and never the Law, for the Law can only condemn us. But the Jerusalem Council also stopped short of forbidding the continued practice of Jewish ordinances among the believing Jews.

Simply stated, if either a believing Jew or Gentile wish to practice and observe the ordinances within the Law, they should, for it is their conscience. If they observe the ordinances out of a desire to obtain righteouness, then I believe that they are wrong. Observance of the Passover is nothing, non-observance of the Passover is nothing. Circumsision or non-circumsision is nothing. What is believed by the observance is something, and needs this needs to be examined by everyone who observes them.

In Christ,
Mattehw

"Those who go down to the Sea in Ships
Who do Business on great Waters;
They have seen the Works of the LORD,
And His Wonders in the Deep."
-Ps. 107:23-24