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Refutations

The Law Is Eternal: Biblical Evidence Against the Abrogation of the Torah and the Continuity of Fasting

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The Bible describes the Torah as eternal, promises life to those who keep it and destruction to those who forsake it, and nowhere contains a statement from Christ declaring the law ended and the alleged era of grace entered. This note presents the biblical evidence for the eternity of the Torah, the curses of disobedience in Deuteronomy 28, and the continuity of fasting — as understood by Christian commentators themselves — alongside its meaning in Islam.

Preliminary: What Is the Torah?

The word “law” is a translation of the Hebrew word Torah, meaning “teaching,” and the Greek word nomos, meaning “established custom.” The word Torah occurs in Hebrew more than 220 times in the Old Testament and is translated in most cases as “the law.” It is derived from the Hebrew verb yare — meaning “to teach,” “to instruct,” or “to see.”

The Torah was not limited in meaning to laws and ordinances; it denoted a way of life based on the covenant relationship between God and the prophets. It is originally used to refer to the Pentateuch, but as “law” it extends to include prophetic territory — Isaiah says: “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, and give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah” [Isaiah 1:10]. The counsel of the wise is also called law [Proverbs 13:14], as are laws of conduct [Genesis 26:5] and laws of rituals and ordinances [Leviticus 6:9, 14, 25]. The Ten Commandments are called the Decalogue — the ten words [Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; 10:4].

The Torah Is Eternal — From the Bible’s Own Testimony

Baruch 4:1 (SVD) “This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law that endures forever. Whoever holds fast to it will have life, but those who neglect it will die.”

The law endures forever. Whoever adheres to it will have life. This is not a conditional statement — it is an absolute declaration of the Torah’s permanence. The question that follows from this verse is: where are the texts in which Christ says that the law has ended and that the alleged era of grace has entered?

The Texts Commanding Adherence to the Law

Sirach 2:18–21 (SVD) “Those who fear the Lord do not rebel against his words, and those who love him keep his ways. Those who fear the Lord seek his pleasure, and those who love him are filled with the law. Those who fear the Lord prepare their hearts and humble themselves before him. Those who fear the Lord will keep his commandments and endure until the day of his visitation.”
Joshua 1:7–8 (SVD) “Only be strong and very courageous, so that you will be careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.”
2 Kings 17:36–39 (SVD) “But fear the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm; and worship him, and sacrifice to him. And keep the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandments, which he wrote for you, to do them always; and do not fear other gods. And do not forget the covenant which I have made with you, and do not fear other gods. But fear the Lord your God, and he will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”
Nehemiah 9:13–16 (SVD) “And you came down on Mount Sinai and spoke to them from heaven, and gave them right judgments and true laws, statutes and good commandments. And you made known to them your holy Sabbath, and gave them commandments and statutes and laws by the hand of Moses your servant. And you gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and you brought forth water for their thirst from the rock. But they and our fathers acted insolently, and stiffened their necks, and did not listen to your commandments.”
Deuteronomy 7:11–15 (SVD) “Therefore keep the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today to do. Because you will hearken to these ordinances and keep them and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the love that he swore to your fathers, and will love you and bless you and multiply you and bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil and the increase of your herds and the females of your flocks, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. Blessed shall you be above all peoples; there shall not be any barren or sterile among you or among your livestock. The Lord will turn away from you all disease.”
Deuteronomy 8:11 (SVD) “Be careful not to forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, his judgments, and his statutes, which I command you today.”
Deuteronomy 26:16–17 (SVD) “This day the Lord your God has commanded you to do these statutes. You must therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have promised the Lord this day to be your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, and his judgments, and to obey his voice.”
Deuteronomy 30:16 (SVD) “Because I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his judgments, that you may live and increase; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to possess.”
Leviticus 18:4–5 (SVD) “My Judgments you shall do, and observe My statutes, to walk in them. I am the Lord your God. So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. I am the Lord.”
Leviticus 20:22–24 (SVD) “So you shall keep all My statutes and all My judgments, and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out. And you shall not walk in the customs of the nations whom I cast out before you, for they have done all these things, and therefore I have hated them. And I said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to inherit it, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, who separated you from the nations.”
Leviticus 25:18–19 (SVD) “So you shall do My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them, so that you may dwell in the land in safety. And the land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat to your fill, and dwell in it in safety.”

The Texts Warning Against Forsaking the Law

Wisdom 6:1–6 (SVD) “Wisdom is better than strength, and a wise man is better than a mighty man. And you, O kings, hear and understand; and you, judges of the ends of the earth, take heed. Listen, you who rule over the multitudes, who boast of the multitudes of the nations, for your authority is from the Lord, and your power is from the Most High, who will search your works and investigate your intentions. For you who serve his kingdom have not judged with justice, nor have you kept the law, nor have you walked according to the will of God. For a terrible sight will suddenly appear upon you, for severe judgment will be passed on the rulers.”
Sirach 41:11–13 (SVD) “Woe to you, wicked men, who forsake the law of the Most High God! For when you were born, you were born to a curse, and when you die, a curse is your portion. All that is of the earth goes to the earth, so the wicked go from the curse to destruction.”
Sirach 49:5–6 (SVD) “They all committed sin, except David, Hezekiah, and Josiah. They forsook the law of the Most High, and the kings of Judah turned back.”
Isaiah 5:24–25 (SVD) “Therefore, as the stubble is consumed by a flame of fire, and the burning grass falls down, so their root will be like rottenness, and their flower will go up like dust. Because they have despised the law of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the words of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, so that the mountains quaked, and their dead bodies were like dung in the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”
Ezekiel 5:5–8 (SVD) “Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the peoples, and the countries around her. Yet she has transgressed my judgments more wickedly than the nations, and my statutes more wickedly than the countries around her; for they have rejected my judgments, and have not walked in my statutes. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have wrought more than the nations that are around you, and have not walked in My statutes, nor done according to My judgments, nor done according to the judgments of the nations that are around you, therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I also am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations, and I will do to you what I have not done, and what I will not do again, because of all your abominations.”
Ezekiel 11:12, 20–21 (SVD) “Then you will know that I am the Lord, in whose statutes you have not walked, nor done his ordinances, but have done according to the ordinances of the nations that were around you. That they may walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them, and be My people, and I will be their God. But those whose heart follows their own detestable and abominable things, I will bring their way upon their own heads, says the Lord God.”
Ezekiel 20:11–13 (SVD) “And I gave them My statutes and made known to them My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. And I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. Then the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in my statutes, and they rejected my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them, and they greatly defiled my sabbaths. Therefore I said, I will pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to destroy them.”
Malachi 3:6–7 (SVD) “For I the Lord do not change; you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. Then you said: With what should we return?”

God’s Covenant with David Is Eternal

Psalms 89:30–34 (SVD) “If his children forsake my law, and do not walk in my ordinances, if they break my statutes, and do not keep my commandments, then I will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Yet I will not take away my lovingkindness from him, nor will I lie about my faithfulness. ”
Psalms 119:43–44, 149–153, 173–176 (SVD) “And do not utterly take away the word of truth from my mouth, for I wait for your judgments. Therefore I will keep your law always, for ever and ever… Hear my voice according to your lovingkindness; revive me, O Lord, according to your judgments. Those who follow wickedness draw near; they are far from your law. You are near, O Lord, and all your commandments are truth. I have known of old by your testimonies that you have established them for ever. Look upon my affliction and deliver me, for I have not forgotten your law… Let your hand help me, for I have chosen your commandments. I have longed for your salvation, O Lord; and your law is my delight. Let my soul live and praise you, and let your judgments help me. I have gone astray, like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commandments.”

The Curses of Disobedience — Deuteronomy 28

The most extensive passage on the consequences of forsaking the law in the entire Bible spans the whole of Deuteronomy 28 — a passage so terrible that one commentator removed it from his Bible.

Deuteronomy 28:15–68 (SVD) “But if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, then all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds, and the females of your flock. Cursed shall be you when you come in, and cursed shall be you when you go out.

The Lord will send upon you a curse, confusion, and rebuke in all that your hand sets out to do, until you perish and are quickly consumed, because of the evil that you have done in forsaking me. The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until he has destroyed you from off the land which you are entering to possess. The Lord will strike you with tuberculosis, with fever, with sickness, with inflammation, with drought, with blight, and with mildew; and they will pursue you until they have consumed you. And your heaven above your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you will be iron. And the Lord will make the rain of your land into powder, and He will bring down dust upon you from heaven, until you are destroyed.

The Lord will make you defeated before your enemies; you shall go out against them one way, and flee before them seven ways; and you shall be a pestilence in all the kingdoms of the earth. And your carcass shall be food for all the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and none shall disturb them. The Lord will strike you with the plague of Egypt, with hemorrhoids, with scabies, and with itching, so that you cannot be healed. The Lord will strike you with madness, blindness, and astonishment of heart. So you will grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in the dark, and your ways will not succeed. You will be oppressed and robbed forever, and there will be none to save you.

You shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not use it. Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it. Your donkey shall be taken away violently before your face, but it shall not return to you. Your flock shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to save you. Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people, and your eyes will look upon them all day long, and you will fail, and there will be no strength in your hand. A people you do not know will eat up the fruit of your land and all your toil, and you will be oppressed and crushed all your days. You will be mad because of the sight of your eyes which you see.

The Lord will strike you with a sore sore on your knees and on your legs, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head, that you cannot heal. The Lord will bring you and your king whom you have set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will serve other gods of wood and stone. And you will be an astonishment, a proverb, and a mockery among all the nations where the Lord will drive you.

You will bring forth much seed in the field, but you will gather little, because the locusts will eat it. You shall plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you shall not drink wine or gather it, for the worm will eat it. You shall have olive trees in all your borders, but you shall not anoint them with oil, for your olive trees will be scattered. You shall bear sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they will go into captivity. All your trees and the fruit of your land the locust will take possession of. The stranger who is among you will exalt himself above you, and you will be brought low and humbled. He will lend to you, and you will not lend to him; he will be the head, and you will be the tail.

All these curses will come upon you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you. And it shall be for a sign and a wonder in you and in your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in want of all things. And he will put an iron yoke on your neck until he destroys you.

The Lord will bring against you a nation from far away, from the ends of the earth, as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, a harsh nation, which will not respect the old, nor show compassion for the young. They will eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your land until you are destroyed, and will leave you neither grain nor wine nor oil, nor the increase of your herds nor the females of your flocks, until you are destroyed. And they will besiege you in all your gates, until your high and strong walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. They will besiege you in all your gates, throughout all your land which the Lord your God is giving you.

And you will eat the fruit of your body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you. The man who lives in luxury among you and is very spoiled, his eye will be stingy toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children whom he leaves alive, by giving to one of them some of the flesh of his children which he eats, because he has nothing left in the siege and the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates.

If you do not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, to fear this great and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will make your plagues and the plagues of your descendants wonderful, plagues great and lasting, and sore diseases lasting. And he will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of, and they will cling to you. Moreover, every disease and every plague, which are not written in this book of the law, the Lord will bring upon you until you are destroyed. And you will be left few in number, instead of being as the stars of heaven for multitude, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

And as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and to destroy you, and you will be uprooted from the land which you are entering to possess. And the Lord will scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of it, and there you will serve other gods, which you and your fathers have not known, both wood and stone. And among those nations you will not rest, nor will your foot find rest; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and languishing soul. And your life shall hang in suspense before you; and you shall be in fear night and day, and you shall not be sure of your life. In the morning you shall say, ‘Oh, if only it were evening!’ and in the evening you shall say, ‘Oh, if only it were morning!’ because of the trembling of your heart wherewith you are terrified, and because of the sight of your eyes wherewith you see. And the Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships by the way which I said to you, ‘You shall not see it again.’ And there you will be sold to your enemies as male and female slaves, and there will be no one to buy.”

The Christian commentator Father Tadros Yacoub stated in his interpretation of this chapter: “Many consider this part of the chapter to be the most terrifying in the Bible. Matthew Henry said that a man, when he read this part, could not bear the curses contained therein, so he removed this chapter from the Bible.” Father Tadros himself comments: “He did not realize that love must be wrapped in firmness. The exceeding love of God cannot be enjoyed without the fear of God… True love is accompanied by sincerity and seriousness in work, not laxity, negligence, and disloyalty.”

The question that remains: are the laws, rulings, statutes, and commandments of the Old Testament no longer suitable for the New Testament, to be replaced by the alleged covenant of grace from Paul and the man-made laws of the nations?

Leviticus 26 — The Full Consequences of Disobedience

Leviticus 26:14–45 (SVD) “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, and if you reject my statutes and your soul abhors my judgments, not doing all my commandments but breaking my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you terror, and paralysis, and a fever that destroys the eyes and destroys the soul… I will set My face against you, and you will be defeated before your enemies… I will punish you seven times more for your sins. I will break your pride and make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze…

I will send wild beasts against you, and they will take away your children and destroy your livestock… I will bring a sword against you to avenge the covenant, and you will be gathered into your cities. I will send pestilence among you… you will eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters you will eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your suns, and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols…

And I will scatter you among the nations, and draw out the sword after you; and your land shall be desolate, and your cities shall be desolate… And as for those of you who remain, I will put fear into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a falling leaf shall disperse them, and they shall flee as one flees from a sword…

But if they confess their own sins and the sins of their fathers, in their treason which they committed against me, and their way of life which they walked contrary to me, and that I also walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies — unless then their uncircumcised hearts submit, and then they are remitted for their sins — I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land… But even so, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not abhor them, nor will I hate them, so as to destroy them, and to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. But I will remember for them the covenant with the ancients whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the peoples, to be their God: I am the Lord. These are the statutes, the ordinances, and the laws which the Lord established between himself and the children of Israel at Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.”

Fasting in the New Testament — An Enduring Duty

Matthew 9:15 (SVD) “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Can the children of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.’”

The Christian commentator David Cusick states in his interpretation: “A day will come when fasting will be appropriate for Jesus’ disciples.”

The commentator John Trapp makes three points: “First, this fast is not abolished by the ceremonial law, but it is still to be used as a duty of the gospel. Second, the times of burden are times of humiliation. Third, our times of joy here are like marriage ceremonies — they do not last long.”

Acts 13:2 (SVD) “And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said: ‘Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’”

The Christian commentator William MacDonald states: “These prophets and teachers gathered together to fast and pray. By fasting, they denied the legitimate demands of the flesh in order to devote themselves more to spiritual practices, lest those demands distract them from spiritual practices.”

David Cusick adds: “They fasted as part of their service to the Lord and perhaps because they felt burdened to seek the Lord in a special way.”

With the same ecclesiastical logic acknowledged by these Christian commentators, we as Muslims say with full conviction:

By fasting, we deny the legitimate demands of the body in order to devote ourselves more to spiritual practices. Our fasting — voluntarily and willingly — is part of our service to the Holy Lord.

The Torah is described in the Bible itself as eternal — “the law that endures forever” [Baruch 4:1]. Every book of the Old Testament commands its observance, promises blessings for adherence, and threatens destruction for abandonment — culminating in the 53 verses of Deuteronomy 28 which describe in exhaustive detail the curses that befall those who forsake the commandments. God declares in Malachi 3:6: “I am the Lord, I do not change.” And in Psalms 89:34: “I will not break my covenant, nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips.” No text exists in the Gospels where Christ declares the law ended and an era of grace entered. The fasting of Acts 13 is described by Christian commentators themselves in terms identical to Islamic fasting: denial of the legitimate demands of the body in service of God. The question stands: are the laws, rulings, statutes, and commandments of the Old Testament no longer suitable, to be replaced by the alleged covenant of grace — and if so, where did Christ say this?
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