Torah, division of commandments: How am I to appropriately understand the division of the Torahs commandments?
Yeshua the Messiah did teach us that there were weightier provisions of the law, such as justice and mercy and faithfulness (Matthew 23:23). He affirms that the greatest of the Torahs commandments are the admonitions to love the Lord God and to love ones neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-28; cf. Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18). It is a fact that there is a prioritization among the Torahs commandments between those that carry more weight and those that may be considered least (Matthew 5:19), especially as there are differing penalties for the violation of various regulations. The teaching of our Messiah does indicate that the Torahs commandments are divided in some way. Determining what this way is, however, has been a matter of theological discussion and debate for millennia. Greg L. Bahnsen makes the important remark, Christians throughout the history of the church who have advocated the authority of the Old Testament law in Christian moral instruction, such as t
