Encore Post: The word Torah (תרה) found in the Old Testament is actually pretty difficult to translate because it carries so much theological weight.
So what can Torah mean? Well, you look at the first books of the bible (Genesis through Deuteronomy) that is called the Torah. It’s sometimes called the Law of Moses. Torah means Law.
But then you may be asking yourself, how is Law defined? That is a very good question. In Lutheran circles we understand the Law of God to have 3 uses. The second use is the most common because it is the one that accuses us of our sins. But the books of Moses are not just made up of that kind of Law. So we need a broader definition.
Torah means God’s Law in the sense that it is His Word. Understood in this way Torah is Law and Gospel. The Old Testament has both Law and Gospel throughout.
God’s Torah then is both Law and Gospel. It contains the 10 commandments and the all the purity laws of Leviticus, but it also has the Gospel that points us to Jesus’ atoning death on the cross. Think to Leviticus 16, Genesis 3:15, Numbers 21, to name a few.
So if God’s Torah is understood as God’s Word, then when Jesus who is called the Word of God incarnate, another way to say it is that Jesus is the Torah Incarnate. This idea comes through in the Gospel of John most prominently, and come to think of it in Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount. For Jesus in both John and Matthew states the Law and then explains it and further intensifies it. We only need to think about the sin of adultery, for instance.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
La Grange, MO
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