Beware of the Commandment-Keepers!
There is a very aggressive movement within Christendom that poses a serious danger to Christians and to the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many other heretical movements, but this post will focus on just one.
On Social Media, these people can be found pursuing [trolling] believers, teaming up against them, giving “warnings” and relentlessly debating in order to convince as many people as possible of the supposed “truth” of their position, and the requirement that you submit to their beliefs.
This movement is called [by me] The Torah-Keepers [Commandment-Keepers]. "Torah" is simply the first five books of the Bible, also known as "the law of Moses".
Many, but not all Torah-Keepers pose a serious threat to the purity of the gospel and to the spiritual life of any Christian who may come under their influence. They are a large, growing and dangerous group of people who seek to draw Christians, who don’t have a solid grounding in scripture, into the belief that they must "keep" the Ten Commandments, the Hebrew dietary restrictions and the Jewish festivals.
Yes, Torah-keepers insist that they believe in salvation by grace, through faith, but it will become clear as we continue that, for many of them, this claim is not true.
Although they pose as believers in salvation by grace through faith, their real focus is almost always on the supposed requirement to “keep” or obey the Ten Commandments… with their major focus being the Fourth Commandment… the keeping of a Seventh-Day [Saturday] Sabbath.
Why is their major focus on keeping the Sabbath? Because they know that nobody will argue or debate with them about the commandments against stealing, adultery, idolatry, etc., but Sabbath-keeping is another matter. Most Christians do not observe, or "keep" that one, or believe it is necessary.
Many of these people also "keep" Hebrew dietary and other laws, but I will not go into that here.
This post will focus on two simple things:
1. Just One example of how Torah-Keepers mishandle and misuse scripture so they can “prove” the need for you, a New Covenant believer, to keep the Ten Commandments.
2. Just One example of how they falsely warn Christians about the grave danger of not accepting and submitting to their demands that you must follow their law-keeping example.
I’m using only one example of each so I can keep this post as brief as possible. You can do your own, further research, if you want to.
Look at the following passage of scripture. Read through it carefully, and then we will examine how Torah-keepers wrongly interpret it to serve their purpose of drawing you in.
Matthew 19: 16 Behold, one [rich man] came and said unto him [Jesus], “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” 17 And he [Jesus] said unto him, “Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, that is, God; but if you will enter into life, keep the commandments.”
18 He [the rich man] said unto him, “Which?” Jesus said, “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother: and, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
20 The young man said unto him, “All these things have I kept from my youth up: what do I still lack?”
21 Jesus said unto him, “If you will be perfect, go and sell what you have, and give to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come follow me.”
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
Commandment-Keepers will focus only on a part of the whole passage, one small piece of verse 17, which says, “If you will enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Here is one example of this being done, by a Torah-Keeper with 214K followers.
This piece of just one verse is used to “prove” that we must keep the Ten Commandments, with special focus, of course, on the Seventh-Day-Sabbath.
If you are not already aware of why this is a false proof-text and interpretation, I will explain.
First, the rich man approached Jesus as only a “good Master”... just a human [not divine], “good teacher". Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.”
Was Jesus denying His divinity? Of course not! He was simply responding to the man on the terms He was approached with, as a “good Master”, not as Emmanuel, “God with us.”
Do Commandment-Keepers examine this part of the passage? Is the non-goodness of Jesus part of their doctrine? If they were consistent, it would be, since both statements are made within the very same verse!
No, they focus only on Jesus saying, “If you will enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Second, the rich man said, “What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”
He thought that he could gain eternal life by doing something, instead of receiving it by grace, through faith. Again, Jesus responds within the framework of the man’s question, saying, “Keep the commandments,” which is impossible, of course, as all of scripture clearly testifies.
The law can only show us our sin, and make us aware of our need for a Savior.
“Keep the commandments” is not a prescription by Jesus, for having eternal life! If it were, He would not have had to die for our sins.
Finally, the man, falsely thinking he had actually kept the commandments, as the Torah-Keepers think they do, was told by Jesus, “If you will be perfect, go and sell what you have, and give to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come follow me.”
Jesus was now placing His finger on the man’s sin of idolatry regarding his wealth and possessions, causing the man to walk away, sorrowfully. Jesus did not try to stop him.
By the way, there are no Commandments that say those with riches must sell everything, give to the poor, and follow anyone.
This adds up to an accurate interpretation of the entire passage, but Torah-keepers will zoom in on just a few words and build a doctrine… “Keep the commandments!” as if Jesus was actually telling the rich man that keeping the commandments would earn him eternal life.
Their use of one small part of Matthew 19:17 to "prove" their so-called doctrine is diabolical.
They do the same with other passages, too. I won't cover them here. One clear example is enough.
Now let’s look at a thread on Twitter which clearly shows a threat to Christians who fail to accept the “doctrine” of the Torah-keepers. Pay close attention to each tweet and then we will examine them as a whole.
So, Nolan makes a very clear threat:
If you refuse to keep the Ten Commandments after the truth of commandment-keeping has been revealed to you. by them of course, there remains no more sacrifice for sin. You will be severely punished [I assume this means damnation] because you have counted the blood of the Covenant as an unholy thing.
That is the threat made by people who claim to believe in salvation by grace, through faith, and I have seen this, and other such threats made by a numerous Torah-keepers, although they always say it is not them making threats, it's simply God's word.
Now, what is Hebrews 10:19-31 really about? Please CLICK HERE to read it first [opens in new browser tab].
Now, is that passage about sinning willfully by not keeping the Ten Commandments, as many Torah-keepers insist and threaten? OR, is it about Jewish Christians who were wavering in their New Covenant faith, and possibly returning to Judaism because of persecution, thus counting the blood of Christ as an unholy thing?
Certainly, it is about Jewish Christians wavering and possibly departing from the faith. It is not about sinning willfully by not “keeping the Ten Commandments” as these scripture-twisters insist and seek to convince anyone else who will listen.
So, brothers and sisters...
Galatians 5: Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage [law-keeping]. 2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if you are circumcised [a law, which Commandment-keepers do not insist upon], Christ shall profit you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; you are fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Finally, while most of these people do not insist on the keeping of circumcision as a requirement, they do demand that once they inform you of the need to keep the Ten Commandments, you must do so, using misinterpreted scriptures and supposed, scriptural threats of severe punishment [probably damnation] if you refuse.
True righteousness comes through a living union with the Lord [branches abiding in the True Vine, John 15:1-8]. It does not come by "trying" to keep Old Covenant commandments with the Lord's "help".
In summary, run, don’t walk away from Torah-keepers as fast as possible. To even consider their “doctrine” as true and biblical is a very real danger to you.