Contributed by Destiny Korchi
Mattityahu (anglicized as Matthew) 19:16-21 is an interesting passage. The rich man wants to know how to enter into everlasting life, Yahushua (commonly referred to as Jesus) answers him with “…Guard the Commandments.” With 613 laws in the Torah, the rich man wanted to know if he had to obey all the laws that would apply to him, or if there was a specific commandment that’ll do it, thus his response asking, “Which?”.
Yahushua goes on to list some of the Commandments of the Torah. The rich man, confidant in his status as an observant follower of the Torah goes on to say, “All these have I watched over from my youth, what do I still lack?” Yahushua said “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in the shamayim (Heaven). And come, follow Me.” – Matthityahu 19:21. Yahushua knew that the rich man already knew the Law, and he watched over it, but He knew that this man, though observant, had become greedy in his heart because of his great wealth.
He was doing good so far, but in order to be perfect, he had to watch over his character, his heart, his inner man, as much as he watched over the other aspects of the Law, he says he follows. Yahushua was showing him what the Law really is: Yes, it is all the things you are doing, but it is also this thing as well. Some people take this passage to mean that we no longer have to keep the Law, because Yahushua listed things in the 10 Commandments, not the 613 laws. But this argument does not hold up. The 10 Commandments are part of the 613, it’s what makes up the 613.
The 10 are summary of the 613, just as the 2 Commandments that Yahushua (Christ) spoke of (To love Yahuwah—God, his Father—and to love our neighbors as ourselves) are a summary of the 10. You can even make the 613 into 1 Summary, or one Commandment: To Obey God. Now to do that, we have to know how, and the 613 laws given in Torah tell us how, it is the details of the Instruction, the Commandments, the Law, the Torah. And to say that we no longer need to keep the Law, because Yahushua didn’t go into massive detail also does not hold up, because if we would form any doctrine, it would be that we cannot have salvation unless we obey! What Yahushua is doing, is teaching him how to be perfected in the instruction that Yahuwah laid out for us to follow and connect with him.
Commandment in Hebrew is Mitzvah, and this Hebrew word is related to the Aramaic word “Tzavta” and means “To attach or join” or simply put “Connection”. Every time we obey, we form a connection to Yahuwah and anytime we disobey we sever this connection. He does not want us destroying our connection with him by breaking the Law, which caused his son to die for us in the first place. Yahushua died so we can live in obedience, with the renewing of his blood — and not the temporary sacrifices of the blood of animals. He did not come to die so that we could continue to break the Law and keep nailing him to the tree again and again.
Mattityahu 19:16-21 shows us that the man’s heart was not in the right place, as we can see in the next verse (v.22). That’s when we get the famous line: “Truly, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the reign of the shamayim (Heaven).” – v.24. It’s not that rich people can’t be saved, and if you want salvation, you have to be in poverty. The rich man needed to address his heart issue, so Yahushua told him what he needed to do to fix this, become a giver from the heart and do not allow riches to make him greedy of gain. Do not let money corrupt who you are. Yahushua knew that he knew the Law, but the rich man did not quite get it, as he also needed to focus on his heart’s condition, not make the Law into an outer act without letting it also become internalized. Yahuwah (God) does not want us to mark things down like a check list. He wants us to live and breathe the Commandments! He wants us to worship not just in truth—his law—but in spirit also! In the spirit of the letter, and the letter of the spirit—not divorce the letter from the spirit and the spirit from the letter. They are one.
This is what Yahushua has been teaching us all throughout the last part of the book! We are to have both! But today, people choose to only talk about the spirit, and want nothing to do with the truth, nothing to do with the letter. rejecting it. That is the mistake of the modern day, just as the mistake in the ancient days was them having the letter but rejecting the Spirit. “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father also seeks such to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him need to worship in spirit and truth.” – Yohanan (John) 4:23-24, “Here is the endurance of the qodeshim (holy ones, children of God), here are those guarding the commands of Yahuwah and the beliefof Yahushua.” – Hazon (Revelation) 14:12.
Commands of Yahuwah + faith of Messiah Yahushua = worshipping in spirit and truth, letter and spirit.
This is the faith we had from the beginning, waiting for Messiah and now we have him. It becomes a fulfilled prophecy of the Torah, it does not become a different religion. This really is what the faith of the Bible is, and we should cling to this truth, not hold onto the counterfeit of what he really taught.
“Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.” – 1 Yochanan (1 John) 2:7.
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till Heaven and Earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” – Mattiyahu (Matthew) 5:17-18
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” – Ecclesiastes 12:13
