The teaching I’ve been sharing here recently, originating with my rabbi, Stan Farr, that Torah is G-d’s minimum standard - the point at which we fall short - should not be considered new or revolutionary to careful students of Torah and the teachings of messiah Yeshua. Whether young or old, healthy or in need of Medicare insurance, this is a teaching anyone can understand if they simply read what G-d’s Word has to say.

Let’s look at a relevant passage:

For I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P’rushim, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven! You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Do not murder,’ and that anyone who commits murder will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who nurses anger against his brother will be subject to judgment; that whoever calls his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing!’ will be brought before the Sanhedrin; that whoever says, ‘Fool!’ incurs the penalty of burning in the fire of Gei-Hinnom!
Matthew 5:20-22 (CJB / Stern)

Does this not make it clear that the Torah is but a minimum standard compared to G-d’s perfect standard of righteousness? Here, Yeshua references a simple commandment: You shall not murder. Does this mean that as long as we do not murder, we are living to G-d’s perfect standard of righteousness?

There are all manner of things, short of murder, that one can indulge in and steer clear of the letter of this commandment. One can sneer, despise, hate, plot against, assault, batter, disrespect and more - all without crossing the line into murder. Murder is the point at which we fail even G-d’s minimum standard, but a person who does not murder but indulges all that I have just named here is certainly not a master over their anger, are they?

That is Yeshua’s point. It is not merely rhetorical, to make a point, that Yeshua says that even saying, “Fool!” will put one in danger of the fires of hell. It is a real and serious communication by our messiah, from Adonai’s mouth to our ears. Yeshua is our perfect mediator between Adonai and us; we must listen to him and not write off such a serious message as hyperbole to make a point.

Our call is to love one another. Anything short of that is short of Adonai’s perfect standard for righteousness. The Torah, through valuable beyond words, is merely where the compromise between Adonai and us as to what the least we could do and still be within his favor is defined.