Belief That Obeys

In its plainest form the claim runs like this: “If you only believe in Yeshua, you don’t need to keep the commandments or the Torah. You don’t even need to know the Old Testament.”

It sounds like the gospel stripped down to its heart, with no ladders to climb, no checklists to complete, and nothing to earn. It deserves an honest answer.

Yet this claim does more than comfort. If it is wrong, it places those who trust it among the ones sent away on the last day. So we will answer it carefully, and we will answer it from the New Testament alone. No verse from the Old Testament appears in this chapter, and half of what follows comes from Yeshua’s own mouth.

The People at the Door

Matthew 7:21-23 Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of the heavens, but the one who does the thelema θέλημα thel'-ay-mah(will) of My Father who is in the heavens. Many will say to Me on that day: 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demon(individual evil spirits to be expelled)s, and in Your name perform many dynamis δύναμις doo'-nam-is(miracles, power)?' And then I will declare to them: 'I never knew you — depart from Me, you who work the anomia ἀνομία an-om-ee'-ah(Torah-lessness).'

We met this passage in Book 1 and glanced at it in Chapter 23. This time, look at what these people say about themselves, because it is a remarkable list.

They call Him “Lord, Lord.” They prophesied in His name, cast out demons in His name, and did “many dynamis(miracles, power)” in His name. Dynamis (δύναμις) means power, real power.

Picture a man at the door of a private home, telling the guard, “I know the owner. I’ve spoken at his events. I’ve done great things in his name.” Then the owner himself comes to the door, looks at him, and says, “I never knew you.” Everything on the man’s list may even be true, and it makes no difference, because the one whose name he used does not know him.

Yeshua gives the reason, and it turns on one word: “depart from Me, you who work the anomia(Torah-lessness).” The fault He names is neither a lack of faith nor a lack of power. Anomia (ἀνομία), as we saw in Chapter 3, is living without the Torah. These people had everything except that.

At the start of the passage, too, Yeshua says who enters: “the one who does the thelema(will) of My Father.” It is not the one who says “Lord” but the one who does the will.

Luke records the same scene with different details:

Luke 13:26-27 Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.' And He will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you workers of adikia ἀδικία ad-ee-kee'-ah(unrighteousness).'"

These people had been close to Him. They had shared His meals and heard Him teach in their own streets, and still they hear the words “depart from Me.”

Luke uses adikia (ἀδικία), unrighteousness, where Matthew uses anomia, yet these are not two different verdicts. John links them for us: “All unrighteousness is sin” (1 John 5:17), and “sin is anomia(Torah-lessness)” (1 John 3:4). Unrighteousness, transgression, and sin are all rebellion against the Torah, and the root of every such rebellion is anomia. Many English Bibles print that word as “lawlessness,” with the word “law” sitting right inside it. The sentence “You don’t need to keep the commandments” is that very word spoken aloud.

Yeshua describes the same gathering-out in another parable as well: the angels “will gather out of His kingdom all skandalon σκάνδαλον skan'-dal-on(stumbling-blocks) and those who work anomia(Torah-lessness)” (Matthew 13:41).

What Else Yeshua Said

The claim says that commandments do not matter for the believer. In Chapters 2 and 16 we read what Yeshua said about the commandments: “Whoever then breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of the heavens” (Matthew 5:19). This time, look at the middle of that sentence: “and teaches others to do the same.” Yeshua speaks not only of the one who breaks a commandment but also of the one who teaches others that they may. That is exactly what “just believe, you don’t need the commandments” does.

John 14:15 If you agapao ἀγαπάω ag-ap-ah'-o(love) Me, keep My commandments.

He does not set love for Him on one side and His commandments on the other. Love for Him is shown by keeping them.

Then there is the claim’s last line, that one need not even know the rest of Scripture.

John 12:48 He who rejects Me and does not receive My rhema ῥήμα hray'-mah(spoken-words), has one who krino κρίνω kree'-no(judges) him; the logos λόγος log'-os(word) I spoke is what will krino(judge) him at the last day.

The words Yeshua spoke will judge on the last day. No one can safely say, “I don’t need to know what He said,” because what He said is the standard each person will meet.

What the Apostles Said

The apostles say the same in letter after letter. John says that whoever claims to know Him but does not keep His commandments is a liar (1 John 2:4), and that the love of God is keeping His commandments (1 John 5:3), as we saw in the last chapter. Paul raised the very question this claim raises:

Romans 6:1-2 What then shall we say? Are we to continue in sin so that charis χάρις khar'-ece(grace) may increase? May it never be! We who died to sin — how shall we still live in it?

Paul does not say that grace makes sin irrelevant. He says that those who died to sin cannot go on living in it. To Titus he explains what grace itself does:

Titus 2:11-12 For the charis(grace) of God has appeared, bringing Salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly epithymiai(lusts, desires, strong cravings) and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

Grace does more than save; it instructs. The word is paideuo παιδεύω pahee-dyoo'-o, to train or discipline, as a parent trains a child. The grace that brings salvation also teaches us to deny ungodliness and to live righteously “in the present age.”

Paul also warned the Corinthians, “Do not be deceived,” and listed the unrighteous who will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Hebrews adds a warning that should give every reader pause:

Hebrews 10:26-27 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the epignosis ἐπίγνωσις ep-ig'-no-sis(spiritual, complete knowledge) of aletheia ἀλήθεια al-ay'-thi-a(truth), there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of krisis κρίσις kree'-sis(judgment), and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

James puts it in a single sentence, the one we read in Chapter 9: “faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself” (James 2:17).

How the Bible Ends

The last book of the Bible says the same. When Revelation describes the saints of the last days, the people the dragon makes war against, it names them by two marks:

Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was angry with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring — those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Yeshua.

And again:

Revelation 14:12 Here is the steadfast endurance of the holy ones — those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Yeshua.

The holy ones are marked not by one of these or the other, but by both together in one sentence.

At the very end, at the gates of the city, as we saw in Chapter 18, it is written, “Blessed are those who do His commandments” (Revelation 22:14). They enter through the gates, and the next verse tells us who does not:

Revelation 22:15 Outside are the dogs and those practicing pharmakeia φαρμακεία far-mak-i'-ah(sorcery, poisoning) and the sexually immoral and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone loving and practicing falsehood.

Those left outside are the ones who practice what the commandments forbid.

Another Messiah

We are saved by grace. That is true, and nothing in this chapter takes it back. But what the New Testament says to the person saved by grace is not that the commandments no longer matter. It is the question Paul asked: “We who died to sin — how shall we still live in it?”

A Messiah who says, “If you only believe in Me, you don’t need to keep the commandments,” is not the Messiah who said, “If you agapao(love) Me, keep My commandments.” To put that other Messiah in the place of the true one is to do what John described: “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Yeshua is the Messiah? This is the antichristos ἀντίχριστος an-tee'-khris-tos(anti-anointed-one)” (1 John 2:22). As we saw in Chapter 23, John himself defines that liar as the one who says “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments. Whoever receives a Messiah without commandments ends up among the people at the door, hearing the words “depart from Me.” That is why this sentence, however gentle it sounds, is frightening.

Those people were sent away because of what one Greek word names, anomia, and that word is written in more places than one.