What is a "Torah Observant Believer"?

-adapted from Katie Hirn at Hirn Homeschoolers *

I think the easiest way to explain what a Torah observant Believer is to define each of the words in the name:

A Believer is a follower/believer in Yeshua as the Messiah.  Yeshua (often called Jesus in mainstream Christianity) was a man who lived, died, and rose from the dead over 2000 years ago.  The story of his birth, life, death, and resurrection is told in the Bible.  The first four books of the New Testament are called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and they are the story of Yeshua’s life as told by four different men who were eye-witnesses to his life and ministry.  Believers are people who believe that this man, Yeshua was the promised Messiah of the God of Israel, YHVH.

A believer is someone who accepts that Yeshua is the promised Messiah (Savior), and that He lived a sinless life and died and rose again to prove that He conquered sin and death.  Sin is anything we think, say, or do that deviates from God’s Instructions on how to live a life set apart to Him which effectively separates us from fellowship or a relationship with God.  A believer knows that through the sacrificial death of Yeshua, our sins were paid for.  A believer knows that all people are sinners and can only be saved from the penalty of death, which is eternal separation from God, through the sacrificial blood of Yeshua.  A believer is someone who, once they admit they are a sinner and accepts the gift of God’s gracious forgiveness, then commits to live their life to glorify Yeshua.  A true believer turns from their life of sin to a life of obedience to YHVH (the name of God in the Bible).

The Torah is the name of the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  The word Torah means “law, instruction, teaching, Word, writings, and/or commands.”  The first five books of the Bible are made up of all the instructions YHVH God gave to His people, the Israelites (which also included a "mixed multitude" of non-Israelite followers of YHVH.)  These instructions were given to them to bless them, benefit them, and guide them in the Way of YHVH.

The word Observant can mean different things, but in this situation it is best defined as “to see or recognize something as beneficial and blessed and set apart by YHVH, and therefore to keep that thing set apart in one’s life and home.”

A Torah Observant believer therefore is a believer and follower of Yeshua Messiah, who believes that the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, have blessing, beneficial, and sacred instructions for life, and therefore they apply those instructions to their own life and homes as best they can in this day and culture.  There are only four obvious differences between most evangelical Christians and most Torah Observant believers. 

1.  Most Torah observant believers keep Saturday, the Sabbath day, set apart and often worship on this day instead of Sunday, and they try not to work or cause others to work on it. 

2.  Most Torah Observant believers celebrate the Biblical feasts for their holidays, as found in Leviticus 23.  These are often referred to as “Jewish holidays”, when in reality Scripture calls them “The Lord’s Appointed Festivals.”

3.  Most Torah observant Christians don’t eat pork or shellfish or any of the other unclean animals listed in Leviticus 11. 

4.  Lastly, many Torah Observant believers wear tzitzit on their clothes as reminder to walk in the Ways of  YHVH, as commanded in Numbers 15 – much like a married person wears a wedding band as a symbol of their marriage.

None of these things is required for salvation: they are how we walk out our beliefs, how we respond to YHVH and His gift of salvation through our Messiah, Yeshua.

A Torah observant believer is a person who knows that they are a sinner saved by the gracious love of the Savior (Messiah) Yeshua, through His sacrificial death.  They are a believer who knows they do not deserve the forgiveness of a Savior.  They love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and choose to walk out their faith in accordance to the Instructions YHVH has revealed in the Torah every day, until their Lord and Savior returns.

* I have edited and inserted a few of my own comments into Katie's original post.