"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished." Matthew 5:17-18
After our Lord and Saviour says these words, what does He proceed to do? He spends the rest of the chapter explaining to His listeners what "to fulfill" means and looks like. He quotes from the Old Testament and then expands on it. For example, Jesus says:
"You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.'
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent." Matthew 5:21-26
Now, if the native speakers of the Greek language understood a verse differently than we do, then we have it wrong—not them! It does not matter if you can read, write, and speak Greek. Were you a part of their culture? Do you have their customs? Then your concepts and interpretations have little to no value. You cannot impose Western thinking upon Eastern mentality. We are 1,800 years removed from the apostles' teachings and their disciples' understandings thereof. Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of the apostle John. Here is how Irenaeus, a native Greek-speaker from Smyrna circa A.D. 185, understood Matthew 5:17:
"The Lord did not abrogate the natural [precepts] of the Law, ... but ... he extended and fulfilled them." (Against Heresies IV:13:1)
He says further on that the words of Jesus are the words of one "fulfilling, extending, and affording greater scope" to the Law of Moses. What does that mean? Well, here is an illustration: The Law of Moses, as it was given to the Jews, was like a flat balloon; Jesus inflated, expanded, and afforded greater scope to it. Grasp the picture now? Since we apparently do not understand the context of Matthew 5:17, or we choose not to out of our own willful ignorance, we will let Irenaeus introduce us to it:
"... that he extended and fulfilled [the natural precepts of the Law] is shown from his words: "For ... it has been said to them of old time, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who has looked upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."" (Ibid)
Once we understand the context, it becomes extremely obvious what Jesus meant by "fulfilling, extending, and affording greater scope" to the Law of Moses. Jesus made it clear that we are not only to avoid murder, but anger, hate, and insults as well; that we should not merely follow the rules concerning divorce, but we should not divorce at all; that we should not only fulfill our oaths, but we should follow through on our every word; that we should not only love our neighbours, but our enemies as well.
How many Jews and Christians do not run around saying, "I have never murdered anyone," as if that is some sort of grand accomplishment? Jesus unpacked that command and expanded upon it. How many Jews and Christians can say, "I have never been unrighteously angry toward anyone and have never hated anyone"? All of a sudden the intent of the command was just expanded tenfold in order to look at the heart and reveal the spiritual side of it.
"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." Romans 10:4
Righteousness will not come from the Law of Moses. "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly" (Gal. 2:21). The Law is "holy and righteous and good," but we cannot keep it (see Romans 7), so it will not produce the righteousness of God. So what will produce the righteousness of God? Faith in Christ Jesus! "For in [the Gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH"" (Rom. 1:17). This righteousness is the same righteousness that the Law of Moses was supposed to produce, but did not have the power to overcome our flesh: "For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:3-4). Only Christ Jesus could overcome the sin in our flesh by giving Himself as an offering for sin.
The apostle Paul states that the righteousness of Christ Jesus will be brought about in us if we walk by the Spirit: "walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). There is a reason Jesus said that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees (Matt. 5:20). Jesus intended us to live out the things He spoke in Matthew 5. The Jews (for the most part) did not murder; Christians do not hate. The Jews (for the most part) avoided adultery; Christians avoid lust. How serious was Jesus about this? He said that if our righteousness does not exceed that of the Pharisees, we will "certainly not" (ου μη, a double negative strengthening the denial; not at all) enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Paul also stated that "love is the fulfillment of the law" (Rom. 13:10). If I love my neighbour, I will not do anything against him that is prohibited. "Torah Observant Christians" really should pay more attention to what the New Testament says and reveals.
Let us address the Sabbath argument, shall we?
God ordained the day of rest not at Mt. Sinai with Moses and the people of Israel, but at creation. "[God] rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made" (Gen. 2:2-3). This does not mean that Yahweh was tired and needed a rest. While the later books of the "Law," or Instruction, certainly filled out the concept of the day of rest in terms of its specifics and how it was to be observed in Israel (i.e., the Sabbath), nevertheless the day of rest existed long before the "Ten Commandments" and other laws were given. This indicates that as long as creation is in effect, the day of rest is in effect.
In the covenant Yahweh made with Israel, He says, "You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations ... So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant" (Ex. 31:13, 16). The fact that the day of rest is an ordinance of creation is strong evidence that there is still a day of rest observation requirement for Christians—in fact, not only for Christians, but for all human beings in all times because the day of rest was part of Yahweh's design for humanity from the beginning.
In the New Testament, we see the Congregation of the Lord meeting together on the first day of the week, under the supervision of the apostles and according to the command of Jesus (see Acts 20:7 and 1 Cor. 16:2). Why do Christians rest on the first day of the week as opposed to the seventh? Because it is on the first day of the week that Jesus rose from the dead. As the seventh day of the week before the resurrection commemorates Yahweh’s work of creation, the first day of the week after the resurrection commemorates Yahweh’s work of new creation (2 Cor. 5:7).
What did the apostle Paul write to the Colossians? "Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink [dietary laws] or in respect to a festival [yearly Sabbath] or a new moon [monthly Sabbath] or a Sabbath day [weekly Sabbath]—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ" (2:16). In other words, the Body casting this shadow is that of King Jesus! What did the Lord Jesus say concerning the Sabbath? "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). In other words, man is not beholden to the Sabbath. The day of rest is for us.
The apostle Paul said, "One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God" (Rom. 14:5-6). He also said, "But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to healthy teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted" (1 Tim. 1:8-11).
While one day in seven should be set apart as rest from unnecessary commerce and labour, nevertheless certain kinds of work are unavoidable on Sunday. If you work in a hospital or are a police officer, you may have to work on a Sunday. Jesus clearly stated that "it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath" (Matt. 12:12). These people generally are not engaging in commerce for the sake of merchandising.
As you can see, the "Torah Observant Christian" (and the follower of the Hebrew Roots Movement) is delusional and has been brainwashed, conditioned, indoctrinated, and programmed to believe lies that have no basis in Scripture and to become a Judaizer. "Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:3). Galatians is written against the Law of Moses as a means to righteousness; it is not written against the righteousness prescribed by the fulfilled, expanded Law brought by Christ. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" leads us to fulfill "the righteousness of the Law."