Antinomian (lawless) Christians accuse the Law of Moses or Torah of being a "yoke of slavery" and "bondage" as though Yahweh did some evil thing towards our Israelite forefathers. They typically cite Paul who said:
"It is for freedom that Messiah has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1, NIV).
"Now then, why do you try to test Elohim by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Master Yah'shua that we are saved, just as they are" (Acts 15:10-11, NIV).
Those men who wished to enslave the disciples are commonly known as "Judaisers" even though and specifically they were saying that unless the gentiles were circumcised they could not be saved (Acts 15:1). Circumcision was the sign of the Old Covenant whereas baptism is the sign of the New. And Paul indeed declaclares that physical circumcision is profitless. But there was a wider implication to the demands of the Judaisers - for them, to be circumcised meant being converted to Judaism, and not just any old Judaism, but the Judaism of the Pharisees, Saducees and Scribes which consisted not of following Torah but of Torah PLUS all their man-made traditions and rules which had been invented during and after the Babylonian exile - i.e. the so-called Oral-Law (Matthew 15:3-13; Colossians 2:8). The Judaising heresy was Torah plus not Torah observance per se. This was the yoke of bondage put around the necks of the children of Judah which no man could possibly live. Yah'shua came to set the people free from this kind of legalism.
The conversion of the household of the Roman Cornelius and his family (Acts 10), who had received the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) upon faith in Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), demonstrated that conversion to "Judaism" was unnecessary to be saved. To be a believer did not mean you had to become a Talmudic or Rabbinical Jew. Indeed, the Ruach haQodesh had been poured out upon the uncircumcised gentiles without limit before they became Torah-observant. Observing Torah does not save a soul, but observing Torah as a result of being saved is an evidence of salvation. Many of the Jewish converts in the apostolic era were trying to make salvation contingent not only upon Torah-observance but upon the man-made Oral Law too. From these enslaving errors the Messiah set souls free.
