In Deuteronomy 4:9 , our Heavenly Father instructs parents to teach Torah to their children. At the beginning of the first century, the husband and the wife both needed to be Jewish, or one or both could be a proselyte that had made a conversion. However, it was never approved for a Jew to marry a Gentile although it did happen. Their marraige was just never accepted and the children were not Jewish, no matter which of the parents were Jewish. In addition, a Gentile who desired to marry a Jew and would therefore become a proselyte so that the marriage and the children would be legal was also frowned upon.

Moving forward, Yeshua comes along and creates a new Commonwealth of Israel and says that the distinction between Jews and Gentiles has come to an end and that there was now a "New Creation". The question that arises, according to first century Halakah is, can a believer in Yeshua who was Jewish and a believer in Yeshua who was a Gentile get married?

This is how we know that the Halakah was changed (just like it was in Acts 15). 1 Corinthians 7:39 states that if a wife, whose husband has died, desires to remarry, she is allowed. Now, notice closely the requirements.

It says she can marry whomever she desires as long as they are a believer in Yeshua. Notice, there is no more a requirement to determine Jewish or Gentile status.

The Problem this causes

If only those who were Jewish have to continue to keep the commandments but those who were Gentile don't have to keep them, what kind of family unit does that establish? Imagine the Jewish parent who wants to continue to follow Deuteronomy 4:9 but the gentile parent who couldn't care less. Can you imagine a Sabbath fellowship where shrimp cocktail is served? Wouldn't this be a social problem?

And the children. Do you allow your children to play with other children knowing that some don't keep the commandments?

I think it is obvious that this is an unworkable situation, that it never existed in the first century assemblies of believers in Yeshua, and that today, there is no distinction between what our Heavenly Father wants us to obey, whether our past was Jewish or Gentile.

I believe it is clear that Yeshua's ekklesia is one ekklesia, being made up of Jew and non-Jew together as one new man in Messiah Yeshua, striving to walk as he walked, sanctifying God's Name upon the earth.