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This page is for the believer who has never been shown this before. Nothing on it asks you to join anything, leave anything, or decide anything today. It only sets out what the Book says, so you can weigh it for yourself.

Read slowly. Every passage here is quoted in full so you can see the whole sentence rather than a fragment of it.

What sin is

Everyone who sins also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness.

1 John 3:4

Sin is defined by a standard. Take the standard away and the word has nothing left to mean.

That is the whole hinge. If Torah was abolished, then sin has no definition, and every warning against it becomes a warning against nothing in particular. The verse ties the two together and will not let them come apart.

Most people reading this were taught carefully and sincerely that the standard was removed. They were not being lied to on purpose. They were taught what their teachers had been taught.

What Torah is

Torah is instruction. It is what Yahuah told His people to do, and it is the thing sin is measured against.

17 “Don’t think that I came to destroy the Torah or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18 For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the Torah, until all things are accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least commandments and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 5:17–19

This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear Elohim and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

3 This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments. 4 One who says, “I know him,” and doesn’t keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth isn’t in him.

1 John 2:3–4

Obedience does not purchase salvation. It is what faith looks like when it is real.

What changed, and what did not

Something genuinely did change at the cross. The mistake is in how much.

Fulfilled and ended:

• Animal sacrifice
• The Levitical priesthood
• The earthly temple service
• Physical circumcision as the sign of the covenant

Remaining:

• The Sabbath
• The dietary instructions
• The moral commands
• The appointed times
• The Name

Hebrews is the authority for what ended. Matthew 5 is the authority for what remains. Neither cancels the other, and you do not have to choose between them.

Where to go next

1. The standards shows what this assembly has settled, what it leaves genuinely open, and what it has ruled out. Read it before deciding anything.
2. What we believe is the full set, including the parts that cost us readers. Nothing is hidden there.
3. Where we were corrected lists what we taught and later retired. If you are wondering whether these people can be wrong, that page answers it before you have to ask.
4. The Sabbath and appointed times is the practical starting point once you want to actually begin.