Grafted - Not Exempt

Many claim faith in Yeshua while setting Torah aside. Yet, taken together, these passages show another story: foreigners were included from the start, covenant markers still matter, and love for the father looks like joyful obedience. Therefore, belonging means learning the father’s ways and walking in them.

One Torah for All (Numbers 15:15–16) CJB

“For the community, there will be the same regulation for you and for the foreigner living with you… The same Torah and standard of judgment will apply to both you and the foreigner living with you.”

If Gentiles are now “living with Israel” through faith in Yeshua, they share the same father and the same instructions.

Children Obey Their Father (Deuteronomy 6:24) CJB

“Adonai ordered us to observe all these laws, to fear Adonai our God, always for our own good, so that he might keep us alive.”

A child who loves their father doesn’t resist his instructions; they embrace them because they bring life and blessing.

Torah Given to All, Including Gentiles (Deuteronomy 31:12) CJB

“Assemble the people — the men, the women, the little ones, and the foreigners you have in your towns — so that they can hear, learn, fear Adonai your God and take care to obey all the words of this Torah.”

The command explicitly includes foreigners (גֵּרִים, gerim). God expected Gentiles in the community to hear and obey the Torah.

Gentiles Called to Keep Shabbat and Covenant (Isaiah 56:6–7) CJB

“And the foreigners who join themselves to Adonai to serve him, to love the name of Adonai, and to be his workers… all who keep Shabbat and do not profane it and hold fast to my covenant — I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer.”

God says Gentiles who join him should keep his covenant and Shabbat—not abandon it.

Yeshua’s Teaching of Obedience (Matthew 5:17–19) CJB

“Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets… Whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great.”

Yeshua points his followers—Jew and Gentiles alike—back to obedience to the father’s Torah.

Yeshua Warns of Lawlessness (Matthew 7:22–23) CJB

“Many will say to me on that Day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we expel demons in your name? Didn’t we perform many miracles in your name?’ Then I will tell them to their faces, I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!’”

Yeshua equates rejection with lawlessness (anomia—being “without Torah”). Those who claim faith, yet disregard God’s Torah, are disqualified.

Gentiles Would Learn Torah Gradually (Acts 15:19–21) CJB

James gives four starter prohibitions for brand-new Gentile believers, then explains why with the conjunction γάρ (“for”). In Greek, γάρ is a post-positive explanatory particle—it introduces the reason for what was just said.

“For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, being read in the synagogues every Shabbat.”

In other words, the four prohibitions are an entry doorway, because Moses is read every Shabbat, giving Gentile disciples a weekly path to hear, learn, and grow in Torah over time. The γάρ signals James’s pastoral logic: start cleanly, then mature through regular exposure to Moses—not a minimalist ceiling, but a guided beginning.

Believers Are Grafted into Israel (Romans 11:17–18) CJB

Gentiles are wild olive branches grafted into Israel’s cultivated olive tree. They become part of the covenant people. To be part of Israel means learning Israel’s ways—Torah.

Gentiles Becoming Fellow Citizens (Ephesians 2:19) CJB

“So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s family.”

Family members live by the father’s house rules. Torah is the way of life in the household.

Love Proves Obedience (1 John 5:2–3) CJB

“This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God, we also do what he commands. Loving God means obeying his commands. Moreover, his commands are not burdensome.”

Torah isn’t slavery—it’s the father’s love language, meant to shape his children.

Yeshua rejects lawlessness. Gentile believers are grafted into Israel, not apart from it. Torah was always for “Israel and the foreigners among them.” The early leaders expected Gentile disciples to learn Torah progressively as they heard it each Shabbat. Therefore, genuine love for the father means living out his instructions joyfully.