Walk the Spirit, Walk the Torah

5/7/17

Romans 8:5-8--"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Ruach (Spirit) set their minds on the things of the Ruach.

6For the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Ruach is life and shalom.

7For the mindset of the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not submit itself to the law (Torah) of God—for it cannot.

8So those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9However, you are not in the flesh but in the Ruach—if indeed the Ruach Elohim dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Ruach of Messiah, he does not belong to Him.

10But if Messiah is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.”

Centuries of Christian theology has taught us that once someone becomes a believer in Yeshua the Messiah, then they no longer have any need, any relationship or connection to the Torah of God.

But this is a passage that suggest exactly the opposite. This passage makes the point that while we are controlled by the flesh, we do not have our mind on the things of the Spirit.

Instead the mind of the flesh or sin nature is thinking about death, it is hostile to God, is unwilling to submit to God’s Torah and cannot please God.

But that all changes when someone comes to a saving knowledge of the Messiah. If the Spirit of God, the Ruach Elohim dwells in you, your mind is transformed and renewed (Romans 12:1-2)

Now we are no longer slaves to sin, nor slaves to the sin nature. We are, if the Spirit really dwells in us, in the Messiah. Now we are believers, now have a mindset that is no longer hostile to God, now we have a mindset of life and shalom.

And for our discussion, now as a believer, indwelled by the Spirit, we can submit to the Torah of God for the first time. It is the purpose of the New Covenant and the role of the Spirit.

Jeremiah 31:32—““But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “I will put My Torah within them. Yes, I will write it on their heart. I will be their God and they will be My people.”

Life in the New Covenant has the Torah in our hearts—it has moved from the outside, written on stone, to the inside, written on our hearts. We have been given a new heart, not of stone but of flesh. And notice what the Ruach, the Spirit does.

Ezekiel 36:26—“Moreover I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the stony heart from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Ruach within you. Then I will cause you to walk in My laws, so you will keep My rulings and do them.”

The function of the Spirit in our lives as one with a new heart within the New Covenant is to cause us to walk in the Law, the Torah of God, to keep His rulings, and not just know them, but DO them.

This is a life that is pleasing to God. This is the life of the believer and someone who has the mindset of the Spirit.