Did Jesus follow all the laws of the Old Testament?
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Asked February 12 2015
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Gary Creel
Ariel HaNaviy
Did Jesus follow all the laws of the Old Testament? The short answer is “yes” and “no.” While Yeshua (Jesus) did not follow all of the laws because every single commandment cannot be kept by a single individual, because every single commandment does not apply to every single person, he was in fact righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the LORD. What is more, we too, by the power of the Spirit, can be blameless in God’s sight by upholding the totality of the authority of each and every Law of Moses, and in this way we keep all of the Torah just like the Messiah did. Contrary to popular opinion, any believer under the power of the Spirit of God, (just like Jesus was), can keep all the laws of God. Observe Luke 1:6, “And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the LORD.” Were John the Baptists’ parents perfect or sinless? Hardly. Yet Luke says they were “righteous” and “blameless in all the commandments.” God does not expect perfection. He never has. God knows that some commandments are for kings, some for priests, some for women, and some for parents, etc., and that every single commandment does not apply to every single person. Plus, God knows we will fail from time to time as we seek to keep all of his commandments. That is why there is forgiveness and mercy and grace, as one preacher I used to know stated, “…from Genesis all the way to maps.” Always has been. Always will be, amen? Conclusion: Yeshua was sinless, he was perfect, and he upheld the totality of the authority of each and every Law of Moses. In this way you could say he “guarded” all of the commandments (the original Hebrew word for guard is “shamar,” but it is often translated as “keep” or “do” in some versions). Most importantly for us to affirm is that, as far as the commandments that applied to him as a non-king, non-priest, and single male with no offspring, he perfectly modeled Torah observance for all to see.